A death notice hangs on a wall, a Sri Lankan tradition to inform the community of a death.
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA – Ranasinghe Mudalige Laksiri, 49, from Dehiwala, a fishing village on Sri Lanka’s southwest coast, prepared to go fishing on June 8 like any other day, he says. But he was unaware that the rough seas and strong winds from an approaching storm would almost cost him his life.
Laksiri and the other fishermen check the weather forecast every afternoon ahead of navigating their boats during the evening into the salty water, he says.
“If one of us in the village get to know any information about bad weather condition[s], we’ll inform the news to others,” Laksiri says.
But the fishermen did not obtain information that day from any source about bad weather, he says. So they went out as usual, unaware of the storm that was approaching with heavy winds and rain.
At least 50 fishermen died in the storm from the Galle, Colombo and Kalutara districts on the country’s southwest coast, according to the district offices of the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Seven fishermen are still missing. The storm also destroyed 38 boats and partially damaged 28 boats in the same area.
Family members of the casualties wonder how they will support themselves now, they say. During the week following the storm, they mourned their loved ones, immediately posted death notices on their houses and prepared food to offer as alms.
Renuka Peries, 32, says her husband died in the storm. She cannot find a job, and she wonders how she will now feed her three children. She is pregnant with her fourth child.
“How can I give food to my children?” she asks, crying.
The government agreed during a Cabinet meeting on June 13 to pay 100,000 Sri Lankan rupees ($775) to the next of kin of each dead or missing fisherman, according to a press release on the government’s news portal. It also pledged to replace uninsured fishing boats and equipment that the storm had destroyed and to pay for half the cost to repair partially damaged fishing boats.
The government will make life insurance compulsory for fishermen starting January 2014, said Dr. Rajitha Senarathne, the minister of fisheries and aquatic resources development, at a media briefing on June 15.
Interviews were translated from Sinhala.
