Sri Lanka monsoon floods displace 60,000 people

Colomvo, Jan 13: Around 60,000 people have been displaced inSri Lanka by flooding caused by torrential monsoon rains, thegovernment said on Saturday, while the death toll from landslides a dayearlier rose to 13.

Sri Lanka's central tea-growing hills are prone to landslidesduring the monsoon, particularly in the district of Nuwara Eliyarenowned for its lush plantations, where the deaths occurred on Friday.

''A total of 12,500 families have been affected due to the floodsand landslides,'' Major-General Gamini Hettiarrachchi, head of theNational Disaster Management Centre, told Reuters.

''That is about 60,000 people.'' The southeastern disitrict ofHambantota, which was pounded by the 2004 tsunami, was badly affected.

Hundreds of houses were damaged and thousands of people remainstranded in the central hills, said the government, which istemporarily housing the displaced in schools and welfare centres.

Reuters>