A landslide is said to have killed around 100 people on Wednesday in southern Sri Lanka.
Hopes of finding survivors after a landslide in southern Sri Lanka on Wednesday were slim on Thursday morning, the minister, responsible for managing natural disasters, estimated the death toll at around 100. “I do not think he can stay survivors” , has said Mahinda Amaraweera, after visiting the village Haldummulla, located 190 km from the capital Colombo, where over 150 homes were buried Wednesday after several heavy rainy days.
The children found their houses buried
“It is estimated that a hundred people were buried, children and workers not at their homes at the time of the disaster,” he added, explaining why the toll could be lower than the 300 missing announced the day before.
Children returning from school found their homes buried and nearly 300 people, most of them children, spent the night in a school due to the risk of new landslides.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced on Twitter that military equipment had been sent with the aim of speeding up search and rescue operations .
The villagers did not want to move
Villagers were advised to relocate in 2005 and 2012 due to the threat of landslides, but many ignored this recommendation. There had already been a number of landslides in Sri Lanka since mid-September due to heavy rains, but there had been no casualties until Wednesday.
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