Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2019-01-07

Granting of relief to the people in the Northern Province affected by the floods

- Due to the inclement weather conditions which affected the Island by the activation of the North East monsoon during the past days, 123,862 persons of 39,895 families in 13 Divisional Secretary's Divisions including Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Jaffna in the Northern Province have been affected and 474 houses have been completely destroyed while 4,522 houses have been partially damaged in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Districts. The required funds and materials have been released to the District Secretaries to grant an advance of Rs.10,000/- for the house owners to do the necessary renovations and cleaning required to be done urgently, until the completion of the payment of the due compensation after a proper assessment. Similarly, action is also being taken to provide a dry ration for a period of two weeks for the affected families until their lives are brought back to normal. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Ranjith Madduma Bandara, the Minister of Public Administration & Disaster Management, to secure the funds necessary to provide further relief for those affected due to the said disaster situation, to carry out the renovations of the damaged infrastructure facilities and common buildings and also for the damages caused to agricultural crops and livestock, was approved by the Cabinet.