Four Districts get landslide warning

The National Building Research Organization (NBRO) yesterday (6) issued a landslide warning to four districts for the next 24 hours. 

Sources at the NBRO stated that the warnings were issued to landslide prone areas such as the Galle, Matara, Ratnapura and Kalutara Districts. The NBRO warned that landslides may occur if the rains persist. 

Meanwhile, the Meteorological Department has warned of heavy showers, rough seas and strong winds, for the next eight hours. The Met Department attributed this to active clouds in the Southern sea. Wind speed can rise up to 80 kmph over sea areas off the coast, extending from Colombo to Pottuvil via Galle and Hambantota. Naval and fishing communities are requested to be vigilant about this. Showers over 100 mm are expected in the Southern, Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces.

Deputy principal dies in crash

A deputy school principal died in a car -motorcycle crash at Katiyawa junction, Eppawala on November 3 night.

He was identified as D.B. Chandraratne, 54, a father of two of Edagala, Mihindupura and deputy principal of Sri Siddhartha Madya Maha Vidyalaya, Eppawala.

Chandraratne was going on his motorcycle to fetch his child from a tuition class when the head on accident occurred around 9.00 p.m.

Although he was rushed to the Eppawala Hospital, he succumbed to his injuries on admission. The car involved had skidded off the road following the accident and toppled causing minor injuries to the driver who was arrested by Eppawala Police. 

Lankan in Canada jailed five years

Jayawathe “Janake” Perera

Toronto fraudster Jayawathe “Janake” Perera, who promised dozens of investors up to 60 percent in annual returns, has been sentenced to five years in jail. She was also slapped with a $3-million restitution order.

From 2004 until 2014, Perera, 52, conned many of her fellow immigrants from Sri Lanka as well as others into investing their hard-earned cash in bogus schemes. These scams ranged from plans to flip run-down Muskoka cottages to a development in Sri Lanka.

It was a Ponzi scheme, Crown attorney Renna Weinberg told court.

“All of the money used to pay investors came directly from other investors, and not from investments,” Weinberg said, reading an agreed statement of fact last month.

Perera took more than $5.5 million from 60 investors, but she pleaded guilty to two counts of defrauding the public for almost $3 million from 32 GTA-area victims, with sums ranging from $776,000 to $1,000.

The victims’ money was spent on various items, including Perera’s first-class plane tickets to Sri Lanka and travel expenses (almost $100,000), on her $92,000 BMW, a down payment and on mortgage payments for her home and business condo.

Perera presented herself as a successful businesswoman who entertained clients at her luxurious home and drove a BMW with vanity plates.

She also travelled by limousines and attended casinos, Justice John McMahon heard.

“She aggressively encouraged investors to remortgage their homes and borrow from lines of credit ... and encouraged them to refer their friends and family to her,” Weinberg said.

“To a more sophisticated observer, these investment opportunities were obviously too good to be true. Promised interest rates were very high, sometimes 72 percent or higher.”

She even paid travel costs for some investors to go to Sri Lanka.

“All of the ‘deals’ went bad at the same time. Victims invested, or so they thought, in different types of investments, yet they all went bad at the same time,” Weinberg said. Yet the scheming continued.

While she was out after being initially charged on April 30,2012, she kept on ripping off victims. She was recharged in February 2016 and has been in jail since. She pleaded guilty last month and was given credit for one-year custody for her eight months in jail.

- Toronto Sun

Floods play havoc in Galle

Give to torrential rains that lashed Galle and its suburbs during past two days, many regions in Galle were inundated creating immense hardships to the people and obstructing vehicular traffic.

Accordingly, a number of highways such as Galle - Wackwella, Galle-Akuressa Bogahagoda Hiyare, Galle-Dikkumbura and Kaduruduwa roads were severely flooded by rain water. At a few areas, minor minor land slides on road sides were witnessed.However, no damage to property or human life was reported.

Tsunamis could affect two million South Asians in 15 yrs: UN

The projected increase in deaths and number of affected from tsunamis globally are likely to increase by 16% in the next 15 years, said a report released by the United Nation Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in New Delhi on Friday.

The UN office for disaster risk reduction has called countries around the Indian Ocean, America and Europe to prioritize disaster mitigation policies to reduce tsunami impact as they pose significant threat to "critical infrastructure, including nuclear power plants and airports."

The 2004 tsunami had claimed more than 2,26,000 lives in 12 countries, with India accounting for about 16,000 deaths. Indonesia and Sri Lanka were the hardest hit with maximum casualties.

The UN report says there were two major tsunamis that occurred in south Asia between 2001 and 2015 impacting four countries in the region with 17.53 lakh people affected and several thousands dead. The report projects that the deaths and affected population would increase by 14% to 19.99 lakh in the next 15 years.

Meanwhile, in his message marking the first World Tsunami Awareness Day, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the importance of reducing current and future levels of risk, particularly through strengthening preparedness.

"Tsunamis may be rare but, like any other natural hazard, if we fail to prepare and raise awareness, then we risk paying a heavy price," said Ban in his message on the Day.

"This should be a clear guiding principle for all those working in the public and private sectors who have to take decisions on major infrastructure projects in seismic zones and near exposed coastlines," he added.

World Tsunami Awareness Day, marked on 5 November, commemorates the actions of a Japanese village leader, who on that day in 1854, recognized the signs of an approaching tsunami and set fire to his rice sheaves – an improvised but remarkably effective early warning system – saving the lives of the many villagers who saw the smoke and ran uphill to help put out the flames.

In the years since, early warning systems have grown more sophisticated, particularly since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which claimed nearly 226,000 lives and caused great devastation in many countries of South and South-East Asia. The waves reached as far as South Africa and Yemen.

Further highlighting the scale of destruction and human suffering caused by tsunamis, the UN chief noted that since 1996, 250,900 people have died in 21 countries affected by 30 tsunamis.

"Tsunamis also pose a significant threat to major infrastructure either already built or planned for coastal areas," he added, recalling the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami which killed many people, left thousands more homeless and triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

The theme of the 2016 World Tsunami Day is Effective Education and Evacuation Drills.

Similarly, in a news release issued by the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), Robert Glasser, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction warned against complacency in confronting the threat of tsunamis.

Speaking at the Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, held in New Delhi, India from 2 to 5 November, Glasser underscored that many years of data have shown that devastating tsunamis can impact most regions of the world.

"Europe and the Americas are vulnerable as well as the countries surrounding the Indian and Pacific Oceans which have suffered considerably over the last 20 years," he said, referring to a report assessing tsunami hazards over the last 400 years.

The report, prepared by Tohoku University, was launched at the Ministerial Conference.

The importance of preparedness was also emphasized in the UNISDR study ‘Tsunami Disaster Risk 2016: Past impacts and projections’ which also drew attention to the fact that population growth has greatly increased risk to tsunamis and other hazards in many regions.

In December 2015, the UN General Assembly designated 5 November as World Tsunami Awareness Day, calling on all countries, international bodies and civil society to observe the day, in order to raise tsunami awareness and share innovative approaches to risk reduction.

Pictorial warning rule to be extended to cigars, beedis

The government would make it mandatory for beedi and cigar manufactures to display pictorial warnings on the packets of their product as in the case of cigarettes, Director General Health Services Dr Palitha Mahipala said.

The pictorial warnings had been introduced to discourage the public from smoking and to save the youth, Dr. Maheepala said.

The government introduced new taxes on beedi in September this year. The Cabinet of Ministers decided to increase the Cess imposed on Beedi leaves from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000 a kilo.

STF arrests seven individuals in Ratnapura

Seven persons were arrested for allegedly carrying out illegal excavations in Naarangoda, Ratnapura. The Police Special Task Force said that the arrests were made following a tip off received by residents.

The suspects have been handed over to the custody of the Gem and Jewellery Authority in Ratnapura. Meanwhile,  Police STF said that two persons who stole diesel in Lunugamwehera have been arrested.

Initial investigations have revealed that the two arrested suspects had been stealing diesel for a long time.

G. L Peiris suspended from SLFP

Former Foreign Minister G. L Peiris said that he was suspended from the Sri Lanka freedom Party (SLFP) today. 

SLFP is alleged to have taken the decision after Peiris was appointed as the Chairman of the new party Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna recently. The former foreign minister said the decision taken by the party was legally accurate. 

“This situation is similar to when President Maithripala Sirisena was suspended from the party when he was nominated as a common candidate for the last Presidential Election,” Peiris said adding that "however the suspension was revoked after he became the President".