July for all affected
Those who were affected by the Meethoamulla disaster and have requested housing will be provided with the facilities by July, Colombo District Secretary Sunil Kannangara said.
He said soon after tragedy 98 houses were promised to the affected families and initially 30 families had accepted the offer along with Rs.250, 000 that was provided for furniture.
“As the week went by 75 families came forward and requested for houses but only 68 families could be given houses as 30 had already been occupied," Mr Kannangara added.
“Families in the vicinity who were asked to vacate their houses will also be provided with houses if requests are made. But so far we have not received any requests," Mr. Kannangara said. They will be given Rs. 150,000 to rent out a place and Rs.10,000 for transportation of goods.
He said some residents had refused to leave their houses until they received payment and a decision has not yet been made on whether to meet that request yet. ed rains. Armed forces personnel have been covering the dump area with specialised LDPE sheets to prevent rainwater absorption.
Last week there were fears that the build up of methane gas could result in an explosion. However, experts who conducted analyses at the site said the methane had not built up to that critical level. There is however, a high possibility of fires breaking out as carbon monoxide (CO) levels were high.
Many of the cracks that had appeared following the collapse on April 14 and steadily widened over the following days have now been stabilised, experts said, but they added that toe areas of the dump needed to be stabilised further.
Experts have been using drones to gather information about the state of the garbage mountain following its collapse, Manju Gunawardena, research scientist involved in the programme said. The drone mapping would be done periodically to measure the progress of the stabilising efforts, he said; adding that the latest drone gauging was done yesterday. Officials are expected to announce their findings next week.