Colombo [Sri Lanka], November 29 (ANI): Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Saturday issued an extraordinary gazette notification declaring a state of public emergency in the country. The declaration comes in the wake of the widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Sri Lanka has appealed for international assistance as the death toll from heavy rains and flooding triggered by the cyclone rose to 123, with another 130 people reported missing, Al Jazeera reported. The extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15,000 homes across the country, sending almost 44,000 people to state-run temporary shelters, according to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC).
Although Cyclone Ditwah was heading toward neighboring India on Saturday, additional landslides were reported in the central district of Kandy, located about 115 km (70 miles) east of Colombo. The main access road in the district was submerged in several locations.
DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said relief operations have been strengthened with the deployment of thousands of personnel from the army, navy, and air force as he announced the latest casualty figures. “Relief operations with the help of the armed forces are underway,” Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo.
Mahesh Gunasekara, secretary-general of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, said many people remain stranded in flood-hit areas as rescue crews work to reach them. “Relief needs have been increasing. After two days, the water had still been swelling,” he said, as quoted by Al Jazeera. “Although the cyclone is slowly moving away from the country, it is not over for us yet,” he added.
Flooding prompted authorities to issue evacuation orders for those living along the banks of the Kelani River, which flows into the Indian Ocean from Colombo. The river burst its banks on Friday evening, forcing hundreds of people into temporary shelters, the DMC said, as per Al Jazeera.
The government has issued an appeal for international assistance and urged Sri Lankans abroad to make cash donations to support nearly half a million affected people. Officials said Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya met with Colombo-based diplomats to update them on the situation and seek support from their governments, according to Al Jazeera.
India was the first to respond, sending two planeloads of relief supplies. An Indian warship already in Colombo for a previously planned goodwill visit also donated its rations to support victims. (ANI)
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