February 7 2011
SOS facilities in Sri Lanka affected by torrential rain
07/02/2011- Heavy monsoon rain caused flooding across the Eastern, Northern and North Central provinces of Sri Lanka for the second time in less than a month. The SOS Children's Village in Anuradhapura in the North Central province is flooded as is the SOS Kindergarten near Batticaloa on the Eastern shore of the island.
SOS Children's Village Anuradhapura flooded
Triggered by heavy rains, flood water entered the SOS Children's Village Anuradhapura. The children, mothers and co-workers are facing tough time as sanitation facilities are overflowing and rainfalls continue in this part of the country. Divakar Ratnadurai, deputy national director of SOS Children's Villages Sri Lanka, informed that if the situation further worsens the SOS families will be shifted to three identified secured places.
The government has already issued warnings for the residents and in the Anuradhapura district the Sri Lanka Air Force was called in to rescue persons affected by floods. Residents of Anuradhapura town are living under threat as one of the main tanks in Anuradhapura is on the verge of breakdown as it already touched the spill level. Officials have asked the public to refrain from visiting UNESCO heritage city of Anuradhapura as roads are damaged and made inaccessible by floods. Anuradhapura town is about 200 kilometres north of the capital city Colombo situated in the North Central province.
SOS Kindergarten near Batticaloa again affected by floods
It seems that woes of the citizens of Sri Lanka would not be fade away soon as a second spell of flooding make lives worst in the eastern and northern provinces again. The SOS Kindergarten in Morakkottanchenai near Batticaloa is again flooded and stationery, documents, food items along with furniture were destroyed. The family houses built for tsunami victims also took the brunt of heavy rains.
The latest flooding has affected almost the same areas devastated by the earlier flooding within one month, displacing 237,000 people. Schools in eastern provinces are closed by the government.