Lankan Prez thanks neighbours for Ditwah relief aid; toll rises over 600

Colombo, Dec 5 (PTI) President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Friday thanked “the friendly neighbouring countries” -- including India -- for the emergency relief assistance in the aftermath of the Ditwah disaster, which has left over 600 dead.

The island nation has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse following Cyclone Ditwah, which has also left several districts isolated and acutely strained the country's disaster-response capacity.

India was the first country to respond under its 'Operation Sagar Bandhu.' “This is not an easy situation to face. We lack the required equipment capability to face this kind of a grave situation. So I am thankful to our neighbouring countries for their very kind intervention to grant us assistance,” Dissanayake said, making a statement in parliament here.

Sri Lanka received humanitarian assistance from the South Asian neighbours -- India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and the Maldives.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dissanayake, in a series of posts on his X handle, thanked Indian and other South Asian leaders for their prompt assistance to the island nation.

Dissanayake expressed his sincere appreciation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his message and for India's steadfast support to Sri Lanka and said, “India's prompt assistance under the Sagar Bandhu initiative underscores the depth of our partnership and the enduring goodwill between our nations.” Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) data showed that at least 607 people have died and 214 are missing as of Friday evening due to the catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.

As many as 1,52,537 persons from 43,715 families are affected and taking shelter across 1,211 safety centres, the DMC data showed.

Speaking in the parliament, Dissanayake said the Ditwah disaster came at a time when Sri Lanka was painfully building up its broken economy.

He fired a broadside at a section of the opposition for trying to make political capital out of the disaster.

Dissanayake said the government would not abandon the budget presented last month. “We presented this budget with several development goals targeted. We will go ahead as planned.” He rejected calls by former leaders to present an interim budget to cover for the recovery expenditure.

“We will be presenting a 50 billion rupees supplementary estimate. With that we will then have 72.5 billion for the required expenditure,” Dissanayake said.

The island nation is in the process of estimating the cost of Cyclone Ditwah devastation. According to initial estimates, USD 6-7 billion would be required as the loss would be around 3-5 per cent of the GDP.

Dissanayake said the government has asked the IMF for a special 200 million dollar assistance in view of the disaster. “We told the IMF to delay the release of the sixth tranche and release it with an enhanced amount.” Sri Lanka is expected to draw its sixth tranche of the nearly USD 3 billion IMF bailout. The 48-month extended fund facility deal with the IMF in March 2023 carried hard reforms to Sri Lanka's welfare-based governance.

The president’s visit to parliament came as the government and opposition were involved in a heated debate over the government’s efficiency in tackling the crisis.

The opposition charged that the government had ignored early warnings issued by the Department of Meteorology and the Disaster Management Centre.

Refuting the accusations Ananda Wijepala, the Public Security Minister, said the government had moved into action when the warnings were received and people were asked to vacate vulnerable areas well in advance.

Responding to criticism of negligence, Dissanayake challenged the opposition: “Please file a court case. We will answer.” PTI CORR NPK NPK