The Cabinet has approved the Tsunami Special Provision Bill, which is expected to be presented and passed in Parliament in the next few weeks, John Seneviratne told reporters.

“The amendments are to overcome prevailing laws that are inadequate to deal with certain issues after the tsunami,” Seneviratne said.

Under existing laws, a person is presumed dead only if he is not heard of or seen for 12 months. But under the amendment, if no trace of a person believed to be a tsunami victim was found a month after Dec. 26, then a death certificates can be issued, Seneviratne said.

Similarly, the adoption age for children will be increased from 14 to 18 years, he said, stressing that the law would apply “only in respect of tsunami-affected children.”

Some 1,000 Sri Lankan children were orphaned by the Asian tsunami, but the government’s main child protection institutions have received more than twice that number of adoption applications. It wasn’t immediately clear how many more children would be available for adoption thanks to the amendment.

Authorities say no adoptions will take place until at least June.

He said those who flout the new laws will face a two-year maximum imprisonment term.

Nearly 31,000 people were killed when the waves crashed into Sri Lanka’s coasts. Another 4,698 still remain missing.