Assistance to people affected by the garbage scrapyard slide

22/10/2012: On Sunday the 14th of October 2012 the community of Dahampura, 101 Watta and 23 Watta were helpless when a patch of land which is situated very close to the community that is used to dump garbage shifted due to the pressure exerted by the weight of garbage dumped over the years destroying most of the houses in the area and also making a nearby canal over flow, flooding the area.

An estimate of 167 families and 77 houses were affected in which 33 houses were completely destroyed and 44 houses were partially destroyed.

The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society’s, Integrated Programme for Community Resilience (IPCR) team of the Colombo Branch were one of the first teams present in the scene where they immediately visited the affected areas accompanied the Disaster Management Center (DMC) and did a 24 hour assessment and as per the request of the government organized First Aid points and Health clinics for the affected population of the community who have been given temporary shelters in the Vidyawardena School in Kolonnawa.

There were 22 numbers of IPCR volunteers present from the Dhahampura, Megoda Kolonnawa and Jalthara (Homagama) areas that coordinated with the DMC and helped in the cooking, distribution and various other ways where our help was needed.

The SLRCS Colombo Branch along with the National Head Quarters made arrangements to provide 100 numbers of hygiene packs, 100 pairs of slippers, 50 packs of candles, 25 sleeping mats and 5 temporary toilets.

The Government Agent (GA), District Secretariat (DS) and the Grama Niladari of the Kolonnawa urban Council were also present and contributed greatly to make this effort a success.