Pakistan sends relief goods for flood affectees in Sri Lanka
Ninety-two people are known to have died across the island.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk / AFP) - In line with the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif s directive to provide all necessary assistance to the Government and people of Sri Lanka, for the rescue and relief operation, following the devastating flood and record rainfall, a C-130 Aircraft carrying relief assistance has left for Colombo today (Monday).
The Aircraft is carrying 500 tarpaulins, 100 tents, 500 mats, 20,000 aqua tabs and 40 electricity generators.
"The Government and the people of Pakistan stand with the brotherly people of Sri Lanka in this hour of need and will continue to assist in the rehabilitation of those affected by this natural calamity," the Foreign Office said in a statement.
Sri Lankan soldiers pulled more bodies from landslides and distributed food and water to hundreds of thousands forced into shelters after major floods hit the island.
Floodwaters were receding in the capital Colombo after the heaviest rains in 25 years pounded the country since last weekend, triggering landslides that have buried victims in tonnes of mud.
Soldiers and other rescuers have discovered remains of 23 people in the last 24 hours in the worst-hit district of Kegalle, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Colombo, where two villages were destroyed last week.
Ninety-two people are known to have died across the island amid fears the number could rise, with 109 people still listed as missing, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said in its latest update.
"The search will continue for some more time even though we have not found anyone alive during these search operations," DMC spokesman Pradeep Kodippili said of the landslides where 57 bodies in total have been found.
Sri Lanka was receiving international aid for more than half a million people forced to flee their homes across the island.
President Maithripala Sirisena visited centres in Colombo on Sunday where more than 200,000 people from low-lying parts of the capital were still staying in temporary shelters, his office said.
However, the DMC figures showed that about half of them had left temporary shelters by Sunday night as water levels dropped in many north-eastern neighbourhoods of the capital.
Earlier in the day, soldiers and relief workers handed out essential supplies in shelters after the rain-swollen Kelani river, which runs through Colombo, burst its banks last week.
Floodwaters from the Kelani were contaminated with garbage from a dump on the edge of Colombo as well as raw sewage, raising concerns of a disease outbreak, officials said.
"There is a real danger of diarrhoea and skin diseases spreading among the flood victims," Colombo Municipal Council medical chief Ruwan Wijayamuni told reporters.
Doctors were being deployed to the shelters and mobile medical units set up, he said, adding that a massive clean-up operation was the next big challenge for residents and authorities.
Sirisena appealed to Sri Lankans to help flood victims, prompting a massive donation of food and other supplies, disaster officials said.
Rain has eased since Cyclone Roanu moved away from Sri Lanka to hit southern Bangladesh on Saturday, leaving at least 24 people dead there, before weakening.
