We keep proving we are large hearted at times of natural disaster. Yet, we as "DecentLanka2015" don't see this disaster as purely a "natural" occurrence. We hold the authorities and the political establishment responsible for all the loss of life, displacement and damage to public and private property.

Three whole villages in Aranayake were reported completely covered under severe landslides. Another large landslide was reported from Aranayake three days later. Latest numbers at the time of writing this statement says, this is the worst flood during the past quarter century. Some media reports claimed over half a million people were "forced to flee".

In and around Colombo and its suburbs, flooding is now a common occurrence with any rain. City beautification certainly has left out the important factor of good surface draining. The wetlands have been redesigned with gardens, walking paths and reservoirs that now leave Colombo suburbs without their natural water retention areas.

Major canals have been neglected. People along the low lying Kelani river basin including those in Gampaha district have gone under water and will not have remedial measures, with the government offering compensation.

They would have to wait for the next floods. This major disaster is due to unplanned exploitation of land and natural resources over many decades under every government that totally neglected environmental factors and safety of life in lieu of economic advantage.

We are appalled seeing how the present government and the State and private media respond to such painful tragedy. The President and the PM were running round to see affected areas, perhaps competing between them to show who is more "concerned" about the affected people.

The fake sincerity is nevertheless evident with PM joking over the tragedy in parliament, when he says the disaster is due to joint opposition dashing coconuts. Media, especially the mainstream visual media is to be faulted for competing to promote their "station image" at the expense of people who anyway rush with relief and support.

Big corporate entities mobilise their clients and customers to collect funds that would be branded as a CSR project. There is thus heavy commercial branding of relief work that should not be at the expense of people's voluntary charity and the victims of the tragedy.

No details are made public of funds collected from the people by private sector entities and by other social organisations. All these often fizzle out with the wet weather drying off. We firmly believe, this issue goes far beyond public charity and government's promise for relief and compensation.

We saw this in Meeriyabedda. Affected people in Meeriyabedda are abandoned after all the hue and cry that only lasted over 02 weeks. Meeriyabedda is still agonising after 01 year and 07 months. Will Aranayaka follow suit? We don't see any difference in the picture.

Once again, no different to all previous governments, this government and the authorities want people to be "more vigilant" over possible disaster, leaving all these tragedies as wholly "natural". No responsibility is thus taken for the safe and secure living of people left in threatened areas.

This is not what is expected from a responsible government. Every single citizen is being taxed direct and indirect for work the government has to plan and implement for the benefit of people. The National Building & Research Organisation (NBRO), the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) and other line agencies are paid by people's tax money for their work. All the monies spent on collecting data and mapping of "dangerous zones" are meant to be used for the benefit of the people and not for mere "early warnings" on landslides. But they are only used for flagging possible danger.

We are very firm that the government should stop playing with innocent lives. These are no millionaire/billionaire businessmen. These are all ordinary villagers who on their own cannot even dream of permanent answers to their threatened lives. It is irresponsible to ask these people to merely move to safer areas. It is the responsibility of the government to provide these people with decent locations out of danger with adequate opportunities for livelihood. That's what the NBRO maps should be for.

We are told the parliament would meet on 25 May to discuss the tragedy at hand. This parliament has never been discussing anything seriously and we know the parliament has no discipline and intellect for serious discussions. Last week, the debate on SriLankan Airlines proved it beyond doubt. Thus there is no reason for us to believe the parliament discussion would be of any worth.

We therefore demand that the government,

(01) immediately appoint a high powered committee of professionals accepted in society as independent and well qualified professionals in the fields of geology, water management, environment etc. to study and furnish recommendations for sustainable solutions within 06 months

(02) through a consultative process based on the Committee recommendations come up with a holistic relocation programme for people living in all areas marked as danger zones prone for landslides in Central, Uva and Sabaragamuwa provinces which includes remedial environmental measures and livelihood opportunities.

(03) develop a Colombo and Gampaha district flood prevention plan including safe alternatives to people living in areas along the Kelani river and that to be included in the proposed Megapolis development programme

(04) Announce details for the public to know of all foreign and local aid and donations received exclusively for the present flood and landslide relief work and how much compensation was given out in each Divisional Secretarial area We also request all mainstream media to initiate a serious dialogue in finding permanent answers to an issue that at the end is about human lives in environmentally hazardous areas.