Sri Lanka issues landslide warnings as death toll rises to 618

The Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Dec 7 with rains lashing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone, as the death toll rose to 618.

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Tropical storms and monsoon rains have battered Southeast and South Asia, setting off landslides, flooding vast tracts and cutting off communities from Sumatra’s rainforests to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka.

At least 1,812 people have been killed in the natural disasters rolling across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam over the past two weeks.

Indonesia’s president on Dec 7 vowed to step up aid, with demonstrators rallying after the country’s death toll surpassed 900.

More than two million people - nearly 10 per cent of Sri Lanka’s population - have been affected by the floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said monsoon storms were adding more rain and making hillsides unstable.

Helicopters and planes were used on Dec 7 to supply communities cut off by landslides in the centre of the country.

The Sri Lanka Air Force said it received a planeload of supplies from Myanmar on Dec 7, the latest batch of foreign aid.