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Matara central correspondent

Floods in the recent past is a calamity that occurred after a long period of time, people suffered heavily losing their immovable and moveable properties due to unexpected floods and earthslips, houses in thousand were washed away, one hundred and thirty thousand families became destitute, at this hour of great disaster, people shed their differences to rescue the flood and earthslips affected, it is because of the united efforts of all, that immediate relief could be provided to the affected, said the Minister of Power and Energy Karu Jayasuriya.

He said so at the occasion of providing monetary relief to flood victims in the district of Matara at the Sanath Jayasuriya Stadium. This relief providing event was held in parallel with the Uga-Dekma 2003, Exhibition-Rupees 15 million were distributed among one thousand seven hundred and fifty flood-affected families to rebuild their houses.

Minister Karu Jayasuriya said, the Government on hearing of the great calamity befallen on the nation, a sub-committee of the Cabinet was formed to guarantee the safe-living of the affected families. The sub committee met every three hours of the day to review and assess the situation and to act fast when and where necessity arose. With the consent of the Prime Minister, President's name was proposed to be the president of the sub-committee. But she volunteered to accept same, to me - within a short period of time we could normalize the day-to-day life of the people.

Co-operation received from all sections to achieve our goal in providing relief to all is appreciated. Worst affected district was Ratnapura.

Government does not want to do any injustice to anyone. Government acted in good faith expecting nothing in return. Hence most countries came forward to our assistance. Therefore we could allocate Rs. 100,000 even for the smallest house to rebuilt.

I appeal that money released for re-construction of houses be not spent on other matters, he said.

Minister of Social Welfare Ravindra Samaraweera said, worst affected was the district of Ratnapura, Tawalama of Galle District and several places of Matara District equally affected. Both the Government and Opposition equally dedicated themselves to rescue the nation at that hour of great calamity. Our thanks must also go to the state officers who braved the bad weather to give of their best both night and day in performing rescue work.

Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Resources and Deputy Minister for Southern Region Development Mahinda Wijesekara said, by an act of nature, all seven seats in the district of Matara were badly affected.

Not only life saving activities, but feeding of rescued was also guaranteed during the recent flood when the economy was at zero level, we could perform a marvellous job in rescuing and providing relief to all flood-affected.

Minister of Expatriate Employees Welfare Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said, even those who lived in huts at the river banks and who lost their belongings too are paid each a sum of Rs. 100,000. Even houses worth Rs. 10-15 lakhs were destroyed. Yet we had to take the firm step of providing financial assistance at the rate of Rs. 100,000 for each family.

All will get the same relief without any bias.

Deputy Minister of Power and Energy Sagala Ratnayake, Matara District MP Justin Galappatti and District Secretary G. S. Ediriweera also spoke.

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