Sri Lanka issues new landslide warnings as cyclone death toll reaches 627

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday as heavy rains battered regions already devastated by Cyclone Ditwah, pushing the national death toll to 627.

A series of tropical storms and intense monsoon rains has swept across Southeast and South Asia in recent weeks, triggering landslides, flooding large areas and cutting off remote communities from the rainforests of Indonesia to the highland tea plantations of Sri Lanka. Across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, at least one thousand eight hundred and twenty six people have died during the past two weeks.

In Indonesia, where the toll has climbed to nine hundred and twenty one, demonstrators gathered to demand stronger government action. President Prabowo Subianto visited the hard hit Aceh province on Sunday and promised to speed up relief efforts, oversee the distribution of aid and restore road access. He said all damaged bridges would be repaired within one or two weeks. Calls to declare a national disaster, which would release additional resources, have so far been rejected.

In Banda Aceh, long queues formed for drinking water and fuel, while prices of basic commodities surged. One protester accused officials of visiting the area for what he described as disaster tourism rather than addressing urgent needs.

Enormous reconstruction challenge

In Sri Lanka, more than two million people, nearly ten percent of the population, have been affected by floods and landslides, the worst natural disaster to hit the island in this century. The Disaster Management Centre said monsoon storms were adding more rainfall and increasing the risk of unstable hillsides in central and northwestern districts.

Air Force helicopters and military aircraft transported relief supplies on Sunday to communities cut off by landslides. A plane carrying aid from Myanmar also arrived, adding to international assistance.

Authorities confirmed that four hundred and seventy one of the six hundred and twenty seven fatalities occurred in the central tea growing region. Another one hundred and ninety people remain missing. As waters receded, the number of people in state run shelters dropped to ninety thousand from a peak of two hundred and twenty five thousand. More than eighty thousand homes were damaged, including almost five thousand that were completely destroyed.

The government announced a major compensation plan on Friday to rebuild homes and revive businesses lost in the disaster. Officials estimate total recovery and reconstruction costs could reach seven billion dollars.

The International Monetary Fund said it is reviewing Sri Lanka’s request for an additional two hundred million dollars to support rebuilding efforts. This would be in addition to the three hundred and forty seven million dollar tranche expected later this month under its four year bailout programme.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament that although the economy has shown improvement since the financial crisis of two thousand twenty two, it remains too fragile to withstand a disaster of this scale without further assistance.