Ratnapura, May 20: Rescuers who reached a remote Sri Lankan village following heavy weekend rains found it buried in a landslide, with one person killed and 24 missing, a lawmaker from the area said today. At least 200 people have died in the disaster, the worst in five decades, and another 200 are missing, officials say. At least 60,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed.

The rescuers found one body at Dothupitiya, 25 kilometres east of Ratnapura, and had little hope of finding the farming village's 24 other residents, Sri Lanka Parliament member Mahinda Ratnatilleke said.

“Chances are very dim that there would be survivors,'' Ratnatilleke said.
A Sri Lankan Air Force rescue helicopter reached the village late yesterday, following heavy rains that started on Saturday. It found the village buried in a landslide, Ratnatilleke said.

“It is very difficult to reach the village on foot, so we are sending more helicopters,'' Ratnatilleke said.

Air force helicopters were ferrying water and food parcels- containing rice, curry, vegetables and chilli paste wrapped in plastic and newspapers- to an estimated 150,000 people in affected areas across Sri Lanka.
In the city of Ratnapura, the worst affected by the disaster, a cricket ground had been converted into a base for the aircraft.
Thousands of people returned to their homes today to find them either swept away or damaged.

“People are finding to their horror that their homes have gone and this is the biggest problem we have right now,'' Ratnatilleke said.
Bureau Report