Asked about Monday, Karuanayake says “there was no tsunami.’’ However, he says, the UNP has its own plans on earthquakes and tsunamis, and will implement these when it comes to power. “The Crows island is the best example of the non efficacy of the 100 meter zone, which the government is now gloating about,’’ he says, adding that he challenge anyone to disprove that anyone effected at Crow’s island is now not in a refugee camp after the December tsunami.

JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe on the other hand said yesterday that ‘’it is politically dishonest for the UNP to go ahead with its opposition to the 100 meter zone after the tsunami scare on Monday.’’ Published: Thu Mar 31 09:43:16 EST 2005

The officials pointed out that due to the poor sanitation facilities in these temporary shelters, the situation could turn for the worse if immediate steps are not taken by authorities to mitigate the problems. “It’s very important to uplift the sanitation facilities,” the sources said.

In several shelters in Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts isolated cases of chicken pops and mumps have also been reported. “But the hitch is that all these huts are constructed close to each other and there is a huge possibility of such diseases spreading, and to make matters worse it’s started to rain,” officials noted.

There is also a severe shortage of water for cleaning purposes, which is another danger for the potential outbreak. “The authorities have failed to address such burning issues, and none of these matters are being highlighted by the local media,” the sources charged. Published: Thu Mar 31 04:17:39 EST 2005

“Three of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance’s most powerful personnel namely President Kumaratunga, Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama and Power and Energy Minister Susil Premajayantha lacked the backbone to go ahead with the vital restructuring process just because their main ally the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna protested against the restructuring moves,” the senior engineer, who was also the ex President of one of CEB’s most powerful unions told the Lanka Academic.

He along with several other senior engineers demanded to know, “if the Government does not have the power to control the JVP, who does?.” They emphasized that the Government’s failure to go ahead with the Ceylon Electricity Board’s restructuring was an obvious sign of it’s ‘lack of strong leadership’. Published: Thu Mar 31 06:24:51 EST 2005