Cabinet approves relief for all flood victims

On a proposal made by the Minister of Disaster Management Mahinda Amaraweera, Cabinet this week granted approval to provide relief assistance to all flood victims relaxing the existing Circular instructions and irrespective of the income level of affected people and of their stay in welfare centres or with relatives and friends

The Cabinet also decided to appoint an Officials’ Committee consisting of representatives of the relevant ten (10) Ministries to examine the matter of providing further relief to the victims and the reconstruction activities to be carried out in these areas and submit recommendations to the Cabinet. According to available statistics nearly 280,000 families consisting of 1,061,000 have been affected due to the recent floods in the Northern, Eastern and North Central Provinces as well as the Central and Uva Provinces in the island.

Immediate relief measures were taken by the Government on the direction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to provide cooked meals, dry rations and other urgently required items and shelter for the victims.