Meethotamulla Garbage Dump

The garbage mound located at Pothwillkumbura, Meethotamulla, Kolonnawa collapsed on 14th of April 2017. According to the situation report of “Meethotamulla Municipal Solid Waste Dump Disaster” by the Disaster Management Centre, 146 houses have been destroyed, there are some infrastructure damages and 32 bodies have been recovered from the destroyed area while 8 more were missing and it affected a total of 1,765 people. The Meteorology Department weather report indicated that there was an intense rainfall during 11th – 13th April 2017.

The analysis of the previous records reveals that the site had been used for waste dumping even before 1998. Initially, only the Kolannawa area dumped waste at that site. Later, the waste of Colombo Municipal Council area was also dumped there. Approximately 800 – 900 tons of waste was being dumped per day. The dump occupied an area of 78000m2. The maximum crest height of the mound was in the range of 45 – 50 m before it collapsed.

Aerial image including the failure face of the waste fil
Meethotamulla_garbage dump
Aerial view of the collapsed garbage dumped
Graphic image of the Meethotamulla Garbage slide
A graphic image of the Meethotamulla Garbage slide

References (Newspapers):

Verified by MonsterInsights