At least 17 people have been killed and over 270,000 people are affected in Sri Lanka due to landslides and heavy rains. Ten districts are mostly worst affected by continuous rain. 

The country’s Disaster Management Centre has earlier issued a red alert for most parts of southern and eastern Sri Lanka. Two people are still missing, the center said. Currently, around 270,000 people are staying in shelters in different parts of the country. 

Many people, despite the warning issued by the center, have not left their homes in landslide-prone areas, leaving five people of a family buried alive, said the center. 

Now, authorities are planning to evacuate all people from danger zones.

The disaster management authorities, with the support of the police, will evict people residing in areas declared red zones of vulnerability to natural disasters such as earth- slips or landslides, Mej Gen Sudantha Rajasinghe, the director-general of the Disaster Management Center, was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror. 

(SAM)