Sri Lanka floods kills seven, displace tens of thousands
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sri Lanka floods kills seven, displace tens of thousands*
COLOMBO, June 2 (AFP) Jun 02, 2008
Heavy monsoon rains have killed eleven people and driven 150,000 from
their homes across Sri Lanka, the island's disaster management centre
said Monday.
The centre's emergency relief director, Brigadier N.B. Weregama, said
that soldiers, navy and airforce personnel had been deployed to ferry
the displaced to nearby schools, temples, churches and other public
buildings.
Weragama said the overnight death toll of seven had risen to 11 by
Monday afternoon due to floods and fresh landslides in the southern
district of Kalutara.
State and private charities were helping feed the displaced.
Some roads in the capital and in worst-hit central and southern Sri
Lanka have been rendered impassable, he added.
The government has allocated 15 million rupees (140,000 dollars) to
assist the displaced people, disaster relief services minister Rishard
Badurdeen told reporters.