Ranil visits landslide affected village

The Leader of Sri Lanka main oppositional United National Party (UNP) Ranil Wickremasinghe yesterday visited Koslanda Meeriya Bedda village in Badulla district and met the victims of the massive landslide that devastated the area Wednesday morning.

UNP Deputy National Organizer and Uva Provincial Council Opposition Leader Harin Fernando and several other UNP leaders joined the Opposition Leader in this visit. They met with the victims of the landslide sheltered in temporary camps and distributed essential items to them. The Opposition Leader requested the authorities to declare a day of mourning to remember those who died in the landslide, the biggest natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.
Wickremasinghe earlier requested all Sri Lankans to come forward and help the victims.
“All should come together without any ethnic, religious or political barriers to do the best to our brothers and sisters in need. It is a responsibility of everyone to provide assistance to our own people who are in a helpless situation,” he said in a media statement on Wednesday.
Commenting on the disaster, Wickremasinghe said a mechanism should be initiated through Parliament and the Provincial Council to set up a housing scheme instead of the line-rooms for the poor estate workers.
He said the government officers cannot evacuate residents from disaster prone areas. Instead the political authority should take measures to prevent such tragedies, he added.