Sri Lanka Affairs
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ghazi52
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Sri Lanka announces $33,000 aid plan as Cyclone Ditwah toll rises
Cyclone Ditwah kills 607, 214 missing; over 2 million affected across Sri Lanka
AFP
December 06, 2025
More than 425 homes were damaged in mudslides, with over nearly 1,800 families moved to temporary shelters. PHOTO: AFP
Disaster-hit Sri Lanka has unveiled a major compensation package to rebuild homes damaged by Cyclone Ditwah, which struck the island last week, as authorities brace for continued heavy rains, flooding, and landslides.
The government has confirmed 607 deaths and 214 people missing, while more than two million people, nearly 10% of the population, have been affected.
Survivors will be offered up to Rs 10 million ($33,000) to purchase land in safer areas and rebuild homes. Families of those killed or permanently disabled will receive 1 million rupees per person, the finance ministry said.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reported over 71,000 homes damaged, including nearly 5,000 completely destroyed. Around 150,000 people remain in state-run shelters, down from a peak of 225,000.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is reviewing Sri Lanka’s request for an additional $200 million in aid, on top of a $347 million tranche due this month. The IMF said it remains “closely engaged with the Sri Lankan authorities… to support recovery, rebuilding, and resilience efforts.”
In an international relief effort, Pakistan dispatched a 47-member NDMA team along with 6.5 tons of essential equipment to assist Sri Lanka, including tents, blankets, life jackets, de-watering pumps, infant food, and medicines.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the mission aimed to support humanitarian and rescue operations in the areas affected by Cyclone Ditwah. Additional relief items, including temporary bridges from the Pakistan Army, were also sent to help restore access in flood-hit regions.
The DMC warned that more rain is expected, especially in the central region, raising fears of new landslides. Residents evacuated from landslide-prone areas have been advised not to return home until conditions stabilize, as a fresh landslide alert covers areas not previously warned.
ghazi52
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Sri Lanka issues landslide warnings as cyclone toll hits 618
AFP
December 7, 2025
A flood victim restores his belongings in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, along railway tracks in Kandy on December 6, 2025. — AFP
Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday with rains lashing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone, as the death toll rose to 618.
A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has battered Southeast and South Asia, setting off landslides, flooding vast tracts and cutting off communities from Sumatra island’s rainforests to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka.
At least 1,812 people have been killed in the natural disasters rolling across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam over the past two weeks.
Indonesia’s president on Sunday vowed to step up aid, with demonstrators rallying after the country’s death toll surpassed 900.
More than two million people in Sri Lanka — nearly 10 per cent of the population — have been affected by last week’s floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said monsoon storms were adding more rain and making hillsides unstable, including in the central mountainous region and the north-western midlands.
Helicopters and planes were being used on Sunday to supply communities cut off by landslides in the centre of the country.
The Sri Lanka Air Force said it had received a planeload of relief supplies from Myanmar on Sunday, the latest batch of foreign aid.
The government has confirmed 618 dead — 464 from the lush tea-growing central region — while 209 people remain unaccounted for.
The number of people in state-run camps had dropped to 100,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded across the island by Sunday, the DMC said.
More than 75,000 homes were damaged, including close to 5,000 that were completely destroyed, it added.
In Indonesia, President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday flew back to Sumatra’s hard-hit Aceh province, with a ministry saying his visit was “to ensure the acceleration of emergency response and recovery in affected areas”.
The Indonesian government has so far shrugged off calls to declare a national disaster, which would free up resources and help government agencies coordinate their response. The toll in Indonesia on Sunday remained at 916 dead, with 274 still missing.
Prabowo will also “monitor the distribution of aid, the evacuation process of residents, and measures to reopen road access,” the Ministry of the State Secretariat said.
“The government emphasises that the handling of the floods in Aceh is a national priority and all resources are being mobilised to expedite the recovery of community conditions,” it added in a statement.
ghazi52
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Cyclone turns Sri Lanka’s tea mountains into death valley
AFP
December 3, 2025
AN aerial view of a washed-out road following a landslide in Nuwara Eliya, a village in Sri Lanka.—AFP
NUWARA ELIYA: In the mist-draped mountains of Sri Lanka’s tea country, rescuers were still plucking bodies from the reddish-brown mud on Tuesday after last week’s cyclone, the island’s worst natural disaster in decades.
At least 465 people were killed, according to disaster officials, with another 366 missing.
Sri Lanka’s Air Force has been combing the landslide-struck landscape, surveying the damage and ferrying food and other essential supplies to marooned residents. Though the rain has stopped, recovery has just begun.
As the first journalist for foreign media to join a relief mission over the tea-growing region, photographer Ishara Kodikara saw a swathe of the country destroyed after slips of soil flattened everything in their paths, including roads and the vehicles that were on them.
The roof of some houses peaked through the mud, while the rest of the buildings were swallowed by the torrents of soil unleashed by Cyclone Ditwah.
Jagged tears in the mountainsides revealed churned-up expanses of earth, with a few patches of the lush vegetation still clinging nearby in stark contrast. There was no sign of human life in the wrecked landscape.
In the central Welimada area, now inaccessible to heavy vehicles, rescue workers pulled 11 bodies from the mud on Monday and appealed for help to search for dozens more.
In some places, entire slopes have been sheared away, leaving ochre wounds slicing through the dense plantation greenery.
The full extent of the damage to tea plantations, factories and tea pickers is not yet clear, but local media reported the industry has been hard hit. What were once thick, unbroken canopies of tea are now wide channels of mud and debris.
ghazi52
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Sri Lanka doubles troops for flood disaster recovery
AFP
December 8, 2025
A resident removes remnants of her belongings from an inundated house following flash floods in the aftermath of cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka on Dec 5. —AFP
Sri Lanka has almost doubled its military deployment to regions struck by a cyclone that has killed 627, sending tens of thousands of troops to help areas hit by a wave of destruction, the army said on Monday.
More than two million people — nearly 10 per cent of the population — have been affected by the disaster caused by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.
Sri Lanka is expecting further heavy monsoon rains on Monday, topping 50 millimetres in many places, including the worst-affected central region, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said. It has also issued warnings of further landslides.
The DMC has confirmed 627 deaths, with another 190 people unaccounted for since November 27, when intense rains brought on by Cyclone Ditwah triggered landslides and floods.
The disaster management agency warned residents to “take adequate precautions to minimise damage caused by temporary localised strong winds and lightning during thundershowers”.
Army chief Lasantha Rodrigo said 38,500 security personnel had been deployed to boost recovery and clean-up operations in flood-affected and landslide-hit areas, nearly doubling the inital deployment.
“Since the disaster, security forces have been able to rescue 31,116 people who were in distress,” Rodrigo said in a pre-recorded statement.
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