KOSLANDA,
Sri Lanka (AP) — Hundreds of desperate Sri Lankan villagers dug with bare hands
through the broken red earth of a deadly landslide Thursday, defying police
orders after a top disaster official said there was no chance of finding more
survivors at the high-elevation tea plantation.
There were
conflicting reports of how many people were missing in the slide, which struck
Wednesday morning in the island nation's central hills after heavy monsoon
rains.
Disaster
Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the number of dead at the Koslanda
tea plantation would be fewer than 100. But Sri Lanka's Disaster Management
Center — which Amaraweera oversees — reported 190 people missing.
Villagers,
meanwhile, said the death toll could easily exceed 200.
"I
have visited the scene and from what I saw I don't think there will be any
survivors," Amaraweera told The Associated Press on Thursday. "But
that number is less than 100."
The search was
suspended Thursday evening because of heavy rain.
Also
Thursday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the disaster site and spoke to
residents who are taking shelter in schools and temples. According to his
website, Rajapaksa ordered officials to expedite rescue and relief for the
victims.
Television
footages showed Rajapaksa inspecting the disaster from the air and meeting with
relief officials. Later he was seen distributing sleeping mats and boxes with
essential items to the displaced people and consoling weeping men and women.
Amaraweera
said the government had asked the National Child Protection Authority to take
charge of children orphaned the disaster.
Many children had left
for school before the slide Wednesday morning and returned only to see their
homes buried with their parents. A government minister told Parliament that
they have found 75 such children.
"The government
will be fully responsible for them, we will not give them to anyone other than
somebody from immediate family because they can be sent for child labor,"
he said.
A large number of
children in Sri Lanka's tea plantations drop out of schools and work as
domestic helpers or waiters in tea boutiques. Many times their parents
themselves send their children to work due to poverty or alcoholism.
On Thursday displaced
people spent their second evening crammed inside a dark, cold school classroom
atop a misty mountain. Government officials had begun a survey of the dead and
missing and doctors attended to the sick and wounded.
A 48-year-old truck
driver who gave his name only as Raja said he lost all five members of his
household — his wife, two sons, daughter-in-law and his 6-month-old grandchild.
"I left for work
early morning and got a call asking me to rush back because there was an earth
slip near my home," Raja said, weeping. "I came back and there was no
trace of my home, everyone was buried."
A local government
officer familiar with the tea plantation said he believes 200-250 people may
have been buried, based on the number of people usually in the area at the
time. There were many houses, a big Hindu temple, a playground and two milk
collection centers where farmers bring their milk for selling.
He spoke on condition of
anonymity because government rules prevent him from speaking to the media.
The tea
plantation in Badulla district about 140 miles (220 kilometers) east of Colombo
was one of many in the higher altitudes of Sri Lanka, formerly called Ceylon,
one of the world's leading producers of tea.
Most of Sri
Lanka has experienced heavy rain over the past few weeks, and the Disaster
Management Center had issued warnings of mudslides and falling rocks. The
monsoon season here runs from October through December.
Vettiyan
Yogeswaran, who lives on a part of the tea plantation that was not affected by
the landslide, said authorities had warned people that the area was vulnerable
to mudslides and they should move. But he said no housing alternatives were
offered.
"There
are 50-70 families living in my neighborhood in the bottom of a mountain. If a
mudslide happens we all will be buried," Yogeswaran said. "We want to
leave but we have not been given a proper alternative."
___
Associated
Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi and Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka,
contributed to this report.
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