Justification: Sri Lanka's Excellence in Disaster Management

by Stewart Sloan

(February 10, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka Guardian) I have been accused on occasion of being sarcastic and even vitriolic towards the Sri Lankan government and the Rajapakse regime. In the aforementioned article I accused the government of turning a blind eye to the suffering of the people while paying more attention to the wellbeing of its MPs.

.....To-date there is no clear indication of just how much the government has allocated for disaster relief but it is known to be less than Rs. one billion. This is significant as the same government, just a few months ago, allocated 1.5 billion for the import permits for the vehicles purchased by the newly elected MPs......

Interestingly, on the day that my article was published there was also another article announcing that the government had set aside Rs. 850 Million towards relief work. Upon seeing this I felt somewhat justified in my approach and 'sarcasm'. Today however, I was completely vindicated by the announcement in The Island (Economist wants govt. plans reviewed following Rs. 50 bn flood damage -- February 8, 2011 by Shamindra Fernando).

I have admitted openly in these pages in the past that I failed O-Level maths while at school and did not receive an equivalency until I was 44-years-of-age, however, even I do not need to bring out my slide rule or calculator to work out that Rs. 850 Million is a bit short of the estimated sum of Rs. 50 Billion caused in damages.

Back to you my beloved detractors.