Sri Lanka It's Happening

May 7, 2007

Flood waters in and around Colombo have just receded but life in Colombo was severly disrupted (yet again) for a week. Seven lives in fact were ended. One of the deaths were caused by the Colombo Municipal council. A girl had fallen into an open man hole and drowned. In any other country, the mayor would immidiately resign. Here in Sri Lanka no one has even bothered to call for any action against the trishaw driver masquerading as the mayor.

Compared to last Octomber, the rains were much less severe this time around. Yet the flooding was worse. The government worked very hard to achieve that result by filling up the wetlands in and around Colombo or turning a blind eye to private fillings.

It is technically illegal to fill up marshes and paddy fields. It is even illegal to transport earth without an official permit. Yet where ever you go you can see the wetlands been filled up even by the main roads, in broad daylight.