A commendable decision

With the Government’s humanitarian operation in the Vanni reaching the last stages, there is an exodus of civilians to cleared areas where they are welcomed warmly and provided shelter and food.

In the meantime, the Government is providing food and essentials to the civilian population still virtually held hostage by the LTTE in last remaining Tiger dominated area, which is shrinking by the day as the Forces advance.

This shows the Government’s commitment to protect the Vanni civilians, regardless of whether they are in the cleared areas or not.

There has naturally been an outpouring of sympathy for the civilians emerging from the uncleared areas, after suffering for decades under Tiger tyranny. The LTTE had deprived them of even basic essentials and recruited their children to the infamous baby brigades.

The authorities are doing everything possible to make them comfortable until they can be resettled in their original dwellings. This process may take some time, as the troops have to liberate the remaining uncleared area, consolidate their gains and remove Tiger facilities and land-mines.

We have witnessed in recent weeks several campaigns to provide food and other essentials for these Internally Displaced Persons. This is indeed a meritorious deed and indicates that the people in the rest of the country care for their brethren who had been used as a human shield by the LTTE.

However, there is every possibility that these goods may end up in the wrong hands if they do not go through proper channels. It has been experienced before that some charitable organisations and NGOs had in fact helped the LTTE under the guise of looking after civilians in uncleared areas.

There is also the possibility that such goods and donations may never even reach the North, having conveniently disappeared down the deep pockets of some unscrupulous individuals.

It is in this context that we should laud the Government’s appeal to all persons who wish to make donations of food, clothing and other material to civilians coming out of the LTTE held areas to do so through the Resettlement and Disaster Relief Ministry. That will ensure that the goods so collected reach the intended recipients in a proper and orderly manner.

The Government should also expedite probes into allegations that some NGOs and other organisations had provided material aid to the Tigers directly or indirectly. Helping a banned terrorist organisation is indeed an unlawful and treacherous act. No room should be left for such acts in the future.

The landslide threat

The country is undergoing a dry spell at the moment, but rains are predicted for March. The rainy season brings both good news and bad news. The good news is that rains benefit agriculture, power generation and plant life. The down-side is that heavy rains generate floods and landslides.

We have been experiencing the latter phenomena for decades, but it is only now that concrete action is being taken to address them.

We reported yesterday that steps have been taken by the National Building Research Institute (NBRO) to implement a project to prevent landslides in identified places in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya and Matale districts with the assistance of the Disaster Management Ministry.

This is indeed a long overdue, commendable step. Although several areas in the country have long been known as being susceptible to landslides, the authorities had taken no steps to prevent settlement and construction in such areas. The result was that there had been deaths almost every year.

There have been many instances where whole families perished, buried alive. Last year, the authorities had to declare several towns off-limits to residents and visitors to prevent a catastrophe.

It is therefore important to conduct scientific studies to assess the vulnerability of these areas (Peradeniya, Matale, several areas in Nuwara Eliya and other mountainous areas) to landslides. Residents and traders should be made aware of the risks involved and where possible, they should be provided alternative land or housing.

All construction activity in such areas should be stopped and banned. If existing laws are inadequate for such steps, new laws should be brought in.

The NBRO and the Geological Survey Department should work closely with universities to undertake more research on this subject. Several areas of Sri Lanka have experienced tremors in the recent past and there could be more serious tremors or an earthquake in the future.

As the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami demonstrated, we are no longer in a so-called Safe Zone when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis. We should be fully prepared and equipped to deal with such disasters.

Better still, we should strive to minimise the loss of life and property in such situations by undertaking preventive measures and raising public awareness.