OCHA Ready to Provide Aid for Sri Lanka After Landslide Disaster

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The United Nations' (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said that the agency is prepared to assist Sri Lanka, after the Badulla district in Central Sri Lanka was hit by a series of landslides following several days of torrential rains in the area.

"The National Centre for Disaster Mitigation has reported at least six deaths and 300 more are missing, while around 150 homes have been devastated," said UN's spokesperson Stephane Dujarric at a daily briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, October 29, 2014, as quoted by Xinhua.

"OCHA is coordinating with the National Centre for Disaster Mitigation and is ready to assist upon request," said Dujarric.

"Sri Lanka's Red Cross Society has dispatched its' first team of responders, and the World Health Organisation [WHO] is supporting the efforts of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Health to assist victims on the ground," continued Dujarric.

It is known that the landslide has buried a village on the slopes of a hilly area in Badulla, Central Sri Lanka, after torrential rains poured over the area for several days. More than 100 people were presumed dead on Wednesday when the landslides buried hundreds of homes beneath debris, and several reports suggest that the death toll from the disaster may climb further.

The commander of the Security Forces Headquarters Maj. Gen. Mano Perera said that Sri Lanka's security forces have been heavily involved in the search-and-rescue (SAR), and that several homes have been buried beneath 30 feet (9.14 meters) of soil and debris.

ANTARANEWS