• 15,404 families in 52 Divisional Secretariats have been affected by bad weather

President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday instructed  all District Secretaries to coordinate relief work with the help of the Disaster Management centre for those affected by the prevailing bad weather.

The President has also mentioned that all necessary provisions have been allocated through the Ministry of Finance and has directed the officials to provide all necessary facilities including food and medicine to the affected people. He has advised the officials to pay special attention to the sanitary facilities of affected people. The President further instructed the District Secretaries to work in coordination with all Divisional Secretaries and officials of the line ministries to get the support of government officials and the armed forces in the relief programme. According to the Disaster Management Centre report as of October 16 2022. 15,404 families in 52 Divisional Secretariats have been affected by the strong winds, landslides and floods that affected 11 districts namely Trincomalee, Galle, Kilinochchi, Kalutara, Gampaha, Colombo, Puttalam, Ratnapura, Kandy Hambantota and Kegalle. Due to the prevailing bad weather conditions, 03 people are reported dead and two people are reported injured across the island. The report stated that 05 houses were completely damaged and 193 were partially damaged.

It stated that 1,927 people from 439 families who were affected by the bad weather are being held in 21 safe centres across the island.