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President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared emergency throughout the country as Cyclone Ditwah ravages the country . The death toll which was above 80 rose to over 150 .
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) report said that the death toll resulting from the adverse weather conditions since Thursday has risen to 153.
In a statement issued at 7 pm (local time), the DMC confirmed that apart from the over 150 deaths, 191 individuals remain missing as search and relief operations continue across multiple districts.
A whopping 7,74,724 people from 2,17,263 families in 25 districts have been affected by the disaster as many areas continue to experience challenges due to flooding, landslides, and heavy rains.
The DMC further stated that 1,00,898 people from 27,494 families are currently sheltered in 798 evacuation centres around the country. According to an official gazette dated Friday and released on Saturday, the state of emergency has been declared throughout the island.
With the state of emergency, the government has moved to provide the district secretaries with discretion of expenditure up to 50 million Sri Lankan rupees.
The Sri Lankan Army said some 68 people trapped on a bus in the Northwestern Province’s Kalaoya area were rescued by the navy early on Saturday morning in an operation which lasted several hours.
The military deployed over 24,000 troops in the rescue mission and rescued 2,453 people, the Army Commander Lasantha Rodrigo said, adding that over 43,000 affected people were sent to 488 relief centres.
“We received generous assistance from India in our rescue operations. Two Indian aircraft came — the C130 brought in essentials, while the IL 76 brought 80 personnel to assist us,” Rodrigo said.
Cyclone Ditwah caused spills in all major reservoirs and rivers with authorities warning people to evacuate.
Nearly 35 per cent of the areas in the island are without power since early Friday with around 7 million of the state power entity Ceylon Electricity Board customers affected.
The restoration work has been hampered by the relentless rains and floods.
Under #OperationSagarBandhu @NDRFHQ teams carried out multiple evacuations in Puttalam, Sri Lanka, rescuing stranded people including infants, children and females.
🇮🇳 🇱🇰 pic.twitter.com/ubQtfYlmQs
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) December 1, 2025
The Indian Air Force has deployed two transport aircraft — C-130 and IL-76 — carrying paramilitary personnel and relief material as part of India’s humanitarian assistance extended to Sri Lanka under Operation Sagar Bandhu, reaffirming the spirit of ‘Neighbourhood First.’
