President Maithripala Sirisena said today that there would be major changed to state institutions within two weeks.

He said several new faces would be introduced.

The President said this was in order to get the highest possible performance.

He was speaking to media heads in Colombo when he made these remarks this morning.

At a meeting chaired by the President and the Prime Minister it was decided that an initial 98 would receive houses beginning tomorrow.

Over 150 houses were destroyed in the incident that took place on Friday (14), when a section of the Meethotamulla garbage dump collapsed on residents.

Thirty-two were killed in the incident; several more are missing and unaccounted for.

President Sirisena had also instructed officials to strengthen the process of providing infrastructure facilities to the affected people.

He asked that priority is given to evacuate people who are in the danger zone around the Meethotamulla disaster area.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Ministers Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Susil Premajayantha, Sagala Rathnayaka, Vajira Abeywardena, A. H. M. Fowzie, Chief Minister of Western Province Isura Dewapriya, Commanders of Tri Forces and the Inspector General of Police joined the discussion.

The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has declared the Meethotamulla site a danger zone and has asked that residents are evacuated from the vicinity.

Accordingly the residents of over 150 houses have been asked to move with immediate effect. 

The death toll from the Meethotamulla tragedy has reached 31 – several more are still missing.

Tri-forces are still engaged in search operations for the missing, while the government has made preparations to release an amount of Rs. 100, 000 for life and up to Rs. 2.5 million for property as part of an insurance scheme for disaster.

The compensation amount paid by the government for the victims of the Meethotamulla disaster has not been divulged by the government as yet, Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said today.

The death toll at Meethotamulla has reached 28.  Thirty people are still unaccounted for, officials say. 

Search and rescue operations are still continuing in the hopes of finding loved ones. 

The President last evening ordered a valuation report on the properties damaged by the Meethotamulla disaster. 

Compensation will be paid out to the families to help them rebuild their lives and bear funeral expenses. 

The death toll at Meethotamulla has reached 26 with several more bodies being found this morning.

Troops are still involved in the relief operations in Meethotamulla garbage dump, which collapsed on Friday (14th April).

More than one thousand security forces personnel and heavy machinery are involved in the clearing operations.

Relief operations are carried out under the supervision of Security Forces Commander (West) Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe.

He has requested the local people to provide more information about the houses in the locality in order to assist the relief operations to be more effective.

From Friday evening up to now 10 excavator machines of the Army Engineers and a large number of dump trucks are involved in the relief operations.

According to Major General Ranasinghe about 180 meter long and 75 meter wide section of the Meethotamulla garbage dump had collapsed on to an area where according to Government records, 145 houses were located.

The disaster has completely destroyed more than 40 houses while the rest of the houses have been partly damaged. The area is being sectioned in to three zones and relief operations are carried out. Troops were able to rescue people and recover 19 bodies, he further said.

In the event of any further collapse of the garbage dump, people living in vulnerable parts along the garbage dump may temporarily be evacuated in order to prevent another disaster while troops will continue with the relief operations.

- News.lk

The government today decided that dumping garbage at Meethotamulla would be halted and two temporary sites were identified, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Harsha de Silva said.

In a Facebook post the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister said the government had also set up a coordinating committee to manage the situation.

‘On the orders of the President and PM a coordination committee to management of the situation was established this morning. Present were Ministers Sagala Ratnayake, Susil Premjayanth, Patali Champika Ranawaka, A H M Fowzie, Mohan Lal Grero and myself along with MPs S M Marikar and Mujibur Rahman. Commander of the Army and IGP and all relevant government officials were also present.

 'Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe was put in charge of search and rescue where an area of about 150m by 75m is being carefully cleaned up. The military is using its trained men and equipment and is doing a thorough job to look for those who might be still trapped. The utility lines have been shutoff and safety concerns addressed for the personnel on the job. SDIG Nandana Munasinghe is in charge of public order'

 ‘The District Secretary of Colombo is overall in charge of all administrative coordination matters. Already close to a hundred people have been shifted to temporarily holding locations; schools and others will be shifted as well. PM has ordered the release all necessary funds from the Treasury to deal with all financial requirements,' the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister said. 

He also said the government was prepared to bear all funeral expenses for those killed. 

A section of the Meethotamulla garbage dump collapsed on residences yesterday. Sixteen bodies have been recovered and search and operations are continuing. 

A part of the Meethotamulla garbage dump has collapsed damaging homes and injuring resident.

President Maithripala Sirisena has ordered the tri-forces and the Disaster Management Centre to aid those affected.

A Bell 212 helicopter has been deployed by the Air Force to battle a fire that has broken out in the area.

Two Sri Lankans have been listed by Forbes in their 30 Under 30 Asia ranking in the Healthcare and Science sector.

The two Sri Lankans are Biman Liyanage, 26, co-founder of CirQ Technologies and scientist Rakitha Malewana, 21, Founder of ideanerd SL.

Liyanage's  CirQ Technologies  develops health tracking gadgets. One product is a smart condom that can respond to blood flow and send data to an accompanying smartphone app, Forbes said. 

He is also the founder of Tamo Tech, a technology consulting company providing software development and hardware design services.

The research of Sri Lankan scientist Malewana focuses on using nano technologies to control the spread of HIV/AIDS.

In 2015, he was received by President Maithripala Sirisena, for his work.

Malewana is also the founder of non-profit organization ideanerd SL, which aims to establish a culture of scientific research in Sri Lanka by focussing on encouraging innovation among school children.

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, at an event at the Temple Trees yesterday, said the behavior some doctors was unacceptable.

He was referring to doctors of the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA).

Minister Rajitha Senaratne said that the behavior of these doctors who had received free education was unacceptable.

“The GMOA always resorts to trade union action,” he alleged. “They hold strikes then they proclaim the strikes as successful. But all they are really doing is putting the lives of patients at risk.”

He said the GMOA should resort to trade union action only if talks fail, “but these trade unions start with trade union action,” he alleged.

He said the GMOA had no discipline, and was only intent on causing difficulty, working with agendas and trying to topple the government. “They will not be successful,” the Minister said.

President Maithripala Sirisena has instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to keep line ministers informed of matters relating to the agreement with India on Trincomalee.

The agreement with India, entitled ‘Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for Cooperation in Economic Projects’ relates in particular to the World War era petroleum refinery that India and Sri Lanka have agreed to develop together.

At present Indian Oil Corporation subsidiary Lanka IOC runs 15 out of the 99 storage tanks in the lower oil tank farm in Trincomalee.

While India and Sri Lanka have in principle agreed to jointly operate the world war-era oil storage facility in Trincomalee, Petroleum Minister Chandima Weerakkody told The Hindu, they are currently negotiating the specifics of the joint venture.

President Sirisena's instructions indicate the differences of opinion among the key members of the ruling alliance over the proposed agreements with India.