Lanka to arm itself with tough emergency laws

The laws proposed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga would give the government power to confiscate property and impose tough punishments for tsunami-related crimes, officials and local media reported.

Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on December 26 hours after mountains of water smashed into three-quarters of its coastline, killing nearly 31,000 people and leaving up to a million homeless.

This allowed the immediate relaxation of laws such as those covering procedures for burying bodies, but the precise form of the emergency depends on the laws that will now be introduced by the president.

"The president brought the new regulations to deal with the reconstruction work. In some places we have to acquire land to prevent people from rebuilding too close to the beach," an official close to the president said.

"To speed up reconstruction, we need these new laws. There is across-the-board support for this. The president has kept the opposition informed about this and they too agree."