Cyclone Roanu has left behind a trail of destruction in Sri Lanka. Tens of thousands have become homeless; floods and landslides have claimed more than one hundred lives. According to the island nation’s Disaster Management Centre rescue ops are continuing at Aranayake, where three villages were buried in a landslide last week. As many as 134 people are believed to have buried under tons of mud in these three villages but only 23 bodies had been found
The capital city, Colombo faced the fury of Roanu. More than 200,000 people have been displaced by major flooding. Thousands are accommodated in temples and schools, in roadside tents or under the bridges of elevated roads. Roanu was expected to turn its attention on India’s east coast provinces of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha but sudden change in weather patterns made Roanu hit Bangladesh instead.
Going by Sri Lankan estimates, over 125,000 homes and more than 300,000 small and medium businesses have been destroyed or damaged by landslides and floods caused by the cyclone. In monetary terms, the damage will be anywhere between US dollars 1.5 billion and two billion.
The Sirisena- Ranil government is facing much flak with relief and rescue ops terms as lackadaisical. The criticism is that the government was unprepared despite satellite based warnings about the impending cyclone. Being an island, which is regularly battered by cyclones during and before the monsoons, the SL government should be in a state of preparedness to minimise loss of life; Indian state of Odisha has demonstrated how this can be done.
Mass evacuation of people from areas likely to be affected is the only way to save lives. This operation demand deployment of rapid response teams in potential disaster areas. Also construction of permanent emergency shelters. Neither of these pre-requisites have been addressed by Sri Lanka government. It means Colombo has not learnt lessons from the 2004 tsunami. No doubt, the Disaster Management Act came on the statute book in 2005 and the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) has been established but it is a toothless institution, according to NGOs.
Now the Sirisena government has decided to define landslide-affected areas as High Security Zones and to prevent “unauthorised” reclamation. It also ordered that construction of houses must stop in “unsuitable places for living”. Both Army and Police forces will be deployed to prevent ‘encroachments’ in high risk areas.
India and several other countries have rushed help. Washington allocated $ 50,000.
The Indian Navy rushed two ships, INS Sutlej and INS Sunanyna with divers, inflatable boats, outboard motors, tarpaulins, consumable stores and rations. Medical supplies, tents, emergency lights, consumables stores, and mobile toilets were airlifted from New Delhi. Being the closest neighbour of Sri Lanka, India has always been the first responder in times of a crisis. As was the case during the Tsunami in 2004, this time also India will extend all necessary help and relief to Sri Lanka, as requested, a foreign office statement said.