sri lanka

Human Rights
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Sri Lanka government to remove landfill after garbage mountain collapse kills dozens

For years, residents of a slum outside of Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, have been calling on the government to remove a massive and growing pile of garbage in a landfill next to their homes. A deadly dump landslide has finally spurred the government to act. Slums and garbage dumps tend to grow alongside each other everywhere, as the poor around the world erect homesteads on land unwanted by those with resources or choose to locate where they can harvest cast-off materials in the hope of eking out a meager income.

Environment
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Sri Lanka’s worst drought in 40 years will leave lasting impact

Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst drought in decades. Rain shortages since October have created a humanitarian and economic crisis that is now affecting more than 1.2 million people. More than 900,000 people are in “urgent need of food assistance,” while 80,000 of them may need “urgent life-saving support,” according to a March 7 draft assessment acquired by IRIN.