Koslanda landslide disaster: All but 30 victim families resettled
It is now two-and-a-half years since a landslide in Koslanda, Meeriyabedda left 39 people dead on October 29, 2014. The disaster left hundreds displaced -- their houses and property buried. Many were later housed at the disused Mahakanda Tea Factory, which was converted into a welfare camp.
The families languished at the camp for well over a year. After several false starts, authorities finally made progress in building permanent houses. A batch of 75 houses were handed over to the families late last year.
Haldummulla Divisional Secretary Shiromi Jeewamala said the last of the displaced from the landslide were settled in the new houses on October 22, last year, almost two years to the day after the landslide swallowed large swathes of Meeriyabedda.
While all those who lost houses due to the landslide have been resettled, the Divisional Secretary said there was still an issue surrounding about 30 families who live in two sets of line rooms near the site of the landslide. The area has been designated as a ‘danger zone,’ meaning that these line rooms were vulnerable.
Authorities have advised them to move out and the Government has offered temporary shelters. However, residents have refused, demanding permanent houses, Mrs. Jeewamala explained.
Accordingly, the Divisional Secretariat has written to the Government requesting permanent houses for the displaced through the Indian housing project, implemented through the Ministry of Estates and Infrastructure Development. The residents have also agreed to move into these permanent houses once they are built. “We are hopeful that those houses would be built by the Government soon,” she stressed.