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Death toll in Meethotamulla reaches 28, DMC says 30 missing
17 Apr, 2017
The death toll from the collapse of the?Meethotamulla garbage dumping site rose to 28 by this morning.
The Disaster Management Centre said that 30 others are still missing.
Hiran Thilakarathne, Assistant Director at the Disaster Management Centre said that 980 people were affected by the tragedy and 11 people are in hospital receiving treatment.
President Maithripala Sirisenahas already instructed officials to provide maximum relief to the people who were affected due to the disaster.
Several houses were buried after the Meethotamulla garbage mountain collapsed on Friday.
A fire had also broken out at the site and the Air Force was deployed to douse the flames.
The residents of the area have been protesting over the past several months urging the authorities to move the garbage to another location.
The government decided there will be no more dumping of garbage at Meethotamulla following the tragedy.
Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva said over the weekend ?that a problem running for decades, perhaps as long as 20 years came to a head with the collapse of a part of the garbage mountain.
The Deputy Minister also said that it was unfortunate that even though payments had been made for those families under risk of land slides to move out, some had not done so. (Colombo Gazette)
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