Hundreds of Sri Lankans have been left homeless after explosions at an ammunition depot on the edge of Colombo flattened houses and killed a soldier, an official said yesterday.
Thousands of residents are yet to return to their homes after a huge fire on Sunday night at the military store triggered the blasts and forced them to flee.
The area’s top official, D S Bandara, said surveys of the affected zone estimate 300 homes have been destroyed and another 600 damaged after shrapnel and unexploded bombs fell on villages.
“This is the initial estimate we have, but the numbers could rise as people go back to their properties and assess the damage,” Bandara told reporters.
“Our figures show 18,620 people were living within this area and they are (currently) now homeless,” Bandara said, adding they will be allowed to return to their villages in coming days to check their homes after the military declares the area safe.
Residents were in the meantime sheltering at schools and temples in the area, with disaster officials providing food.
The military is not allowing journalists inside the sprawling Salawa army complex, 36km (22.5 miles) east of Colombo, but aerial photos show buildings destroyed and only a water tower intact.
At least one soldier burnt to death while about 50 people were treated for minor injuries in the explosions and fire that was only extinguished on Monday.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged to rebuild the destroyed homes after visiting the area, his office said.
Police have launched a criminal investigation into the cause of the fire, which has caused the worst destruction since the end of Sri Lanka’s decades-long separatist war in 2009.
On Monday, former president Mahinda Rajapakse said his administration had planned to relocate the ammunition dump from the built-up area before he was defeated in the January 2015 election.
“My government had plans to relocate this ammunition depot but the new government has failed to execute it,” he said.
One of the affected villages housed widows and wounded veterans from Sri Lanka’s long civil war, who had to cross a river to safety.
“We took a boat and went across the Kelani river and took shelter at a temple,” said 53-year-old widow Mahilagodage Rohini.
“Most of the houses at our (Swarna Jayanthi) village have been destroyed.”
The camp occupies a former plywood factory that was used to store heavy weaponry and ammunition, including rockets.
It was the second time in less than a month that residents had been forced to leave their homes after floods hit the capital in May when the rain-swollen
Kelani river burst its banks.
Last month, around 200,000 residents of Colombo had to flee floods when the river burst its banks.
Residents waiting at a relief camp after being evacuated from their homes near an ammunition depot in Salawa, on the edge of Colombo, yesterday.
