Sri Lanka seeks foreign help as Cyclone Ditwah death toll reaches 123

Sri Lanka has appealed for international assistance as 130 people were reported missing and 123 people died as a result of the severe rains and floods that caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

The Disaster Management Center (DMC) reported on Saturday that the extreme weather system has destroyed nearly 15, 000 homes nationwide and sent almost 44, 000 people to temporary shelters run by the government.

The central district of Kandy, located 115 kilometers (70 miles) east of the capital Colombo, is currently experiencing more landslides due to the main access road being submerged in several locations despite Cyclone Ditwah’s plan to travel northward toward neighboring India on Saturday.

As he revealed the most recent casualty figures, DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda claimed relief operations had been increased as a result of the deployment of thousands of army, navy, and air force personnel.

Kotuwegoda told reporters in Colombo that “relief operations are being conducted with the assistance of the armed forces.”

Many people have been stranded in various flood-hit areas, according to Mahesh Gunasekara, the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society’s secretary-general, as rescue workers attempt to get to them.

“Relief needs are growing,” he said. He claimed that water has continued to swell after two days.

“The cyclone is slowly eroding from the country, but it is not over for us,” Gunasekara continued.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for those who reside along the banks of the Kelani River, which flows into Colombo into the Indian Ocean.

According to the DMC, hundreds of people were forced into temporary shelters after the Kelani burst its banks on Friday night.

Sri Lankans abroad were asked to make cash donations to help nearly half a million of the country’s nearly half-a-million affected people in an appeal for international aid.

According to officials, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya met with diplomats from Colombo to brief them on the situation and enlist the support of their governments.

An Indian warship already in Colombo on a previously scheduled goodwill visit donated its rations to help victims, while India was the first to respond by sending two planeloads of relief supplies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences for the Sri Lankan deaths and said New Delhi was prepared to provide additional aid.

As the situation changes, Modi stated on X that “we are ready to offer more assistance and assistance.”

Parts of Sri Lanka’s north were still experiencing showers as a result of the island’s continuing effects of Cyclone Ditwah, though the rain had eased in the majority of the country on Saturday, including the capital.

DMC officials predicted flood levels to exceed those recorded in 2016 and result in the deaths of 71 people all over the country.

The highest week-by-week weather-related death toll has been recorded since June last year, when 26 people died as a result of heavy rain.