President Dissanayake has called ongoing rescue and recovery efforts the most difficult in the nation’s history.
Intense rainfall in Sri Lanka has complicated recovery efforts in the wake of a powerful cyclone last week that killed hundreds and left tens of thousands displaced, according to officials.
More than 130mm (5.1 inches) of rain poured down in southern Sri Lanka over 15 hours on Thursday, said local authorities, with more heavy downpours expected across southern and southwestern areas on Friday.
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The continuing deluge has made cleanup and reconstruction operations difficult after Cyclone Ditwah – triggering the worst floods in a decade – left the island on Sunday.
The cyclone killed at least 607 people, damaged more than 50,000 homes and pushed 170,000 people into relief centres, according to the country’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) and local officials. There are 214 people still missing.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has called the natural disaster the most challenging the island has ever faced. “We also recognise that what we are undertaking is the most difficult rescue operation in our nation’s history,” he said in an address to the nation.
The disaster is part of a larger spate of catastrophic regional floods and landslides last week that also hit Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, killing a combined 1,500 people. As in Sri Lanka, numerous villages in Indonesia remain buried under mud and debris.
‘What are we going to do?’
In Sri Lanka, residents evacuated from the landslide-prone central hills have been told not to return immediately to their homes, even if they were unaffected by the deluge, as the mountainsides remained unstable.
“I have lost my house, and my crop … What are we going to do?” Prasanna Shantha Kumara, staying in a relief centre with his family, told the Reuters news agency. “How can we live like this? We need help.”
Residents in hard-hit areas have castigated the government for not being better prepared for the deluge and its aftermath.
The official in charge of the recovery, Prabath Chandrakeerthi, commissioner-general of essential services, said authorities were paying 25,000 rupees ($81) to clean a home, with costs of reconstruction as much as $6-7bn.
A further 2.5 million rupees ($8,100) is being paid to begin rebuilding destroyed homes.
Chandrakeerthi’s office said nearly three-quarters of the electricity supply across the country had been restored, but some parts of the worst-affected Central Province were still without power and telephones.
The state-owned Daily News reported 75mm (3 inches) of rain is expected today across some southern and southwestern areas – including the urban west coast around the commercial capital, Colombo.
Dissanayake declared a state of emergency on Saturday and has pledged to rebuild with international support.