Opposition...

The MPs said they would rather assist affected communities than sit through proceedings that, in their view, avoided the central issue of the crisis.

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Raising the matter in the chamber before the walkout, Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP Kabir Hashim said the scale of devastation could have been significantly reduced had the Government acted on advance warnings.

He said both the Meteorology Department and the Irrigation Department had issued alerts on 12 November of the likelihood of severe weather and high-risk conditions in multiple districts. According to him, these warnings were neither meaningfully considered nor translated into precautionary measures.