A total of 98 houses will be required for the families of the Meetotamulla garbage dump collapse, Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa says.

He made the observation while speaking at a press conference held in Colombo on Wednesday.

Yapa also added the Urban Development Authority could provide 60 houses initially for the victims. The Minister said the rest of the houses will be constructed and will be provided soon, and that the government was prepared to provide Rs. 250,000 per house to compensate for destroyed furniture.

With rescue and relief operations still underway at the site, state officials together with security forces personnel have launched a preliminary assessment project to assess the full extent of the damage and potential future threat perceptions in the locations.

Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa also stated that whilst media sources have published various information on the budget allocated to provide compensation for those killed and displaced by the Meethotamulla tragedy, a final decision about the budget was yet to be made.

He explained that there was no way to make such a decision until the valuation process had been completed, and thus urged the public to not be misled by false rumours.

Some 245 families and 1059 individuals have been displaced by the garbage heap collapse, and 32 dead bodies have been recovered whilst at least 8 still remain missing. The number of injured people seeking treatment is 11. 
79 houses have been completely destroyed by the tragedy, and 19 more have been partially destroyed.

The Minister stated that a methodical programme will be implemented to recycle waste and prevent such a disaster from occurring again.

Yapa further explained that waste was being temporarily diverted to several alternate locations, and that despite the ongoing protests against the garbage disposal in these locations, action would be taken only under the Government’s orders, as the protesters had no authority over the issue.