Cyclone Ditwah’s trail: lives lost, lessons unlearned

THE waters may have started to recede, but the scars remain. Cyclone Ditwah has left Sri Lanka facing one of its worst flooding and landslide disasters in two decades with all 25 districts battered, villages buried, families displaced, and livelihoods erased. The official death toll hovers around. 390, yet the true figure is likely to be far higher, with entire communities swallowed by landslides and mud.

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Cyclone Ditwah is therefore not just a natural disaster; it is a mirror reflecting the failures of governance and preparedness

This is not the first time the nation has been brought to its knees by water. In 2016, floods claimed hundreds of lives and destroyed hundreds of homes. Promises of reform followed, but little changed. Nine years later, the same weaknesses — poor drainage, fragile infrastructure, and a complacent disaster management system — have been exposed again.

The tragedy is not only in the lives lost, but in the lessons unlearned. Sri Lanka’s leaders remain reactive, not proactive, repeating the same cycle of neglect and response. Cyclone Ditwah is therefore not just a natural disaster; it is a mirror reflecting the failures of governance and preparedness.

Although the official death toll from Cyclone Ditwah stands at nearly 390, this number tells only a part of the story. Entire villages have been buried under landslides, cut off from rescue teams, and erased from registries. Survivors speak of hamlets swallowed whole, families lost without a trace, and communities that exist now only in memory The true toll is likely to exceed ten times the reported figure.

Beyond the deaths, the destruction is staggering. According to CAL Research, more than 15,000 homes lie in ruins, schools have collapsed, and over 200 roads and 10 bridges have been torn apart, severing connectivity across districts. UN figures confirm nearly one million people were affected, with 180,000 displaced in shelters. Farmers have seen their fields washed away, small businesses destroyed, and livelihoods shattered overnight. The disaster has forced thousands into temporary shelters with little certainty about when— or if — they will return home. (Cyclone Ditwah brings worst flooding in decades to Sri Lanka, killing hundreds | UN News)