Rebuilding housing post-Ditwah: Lessons from Sri Lanka’s tsunami experience

THE Ditwah Cyclone ranks second only to the December 2004 tsunami in terms of damage to housing in Sri Lanka's recent history.

- By Dr. Nisha Arunatilake

According to the government's Disaster Management Centre, as of December 2025, 86,488 houses were partially or fully damaged due to Ditwah. This is only slightly fewer than the nearly 100,000 houses affected by the 2004 Tsunami. The Government has announced a redevelopment program to assist affected families in rebuilding their homes in safer location. It has many similarities to the 2005 post-Tsunami housing program and holds important insights as outlined in the Post-Disaster Housing: Lessons Learnt from the 2004 Tsunami of Sri Lanka, to inform the Ditwah Cyclone housing initiative.The tsunami housing study was based on two surveys by the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka (IPS) covering 600 affected families across six districts in the Southern and Eastern Provinces to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the post-tsunami housing program. The first was done in April 2005 and the same households were resurveyed after 18 months to assess progress.

A key feature of the 2005 post-tsunami housing program was the no-build buffer zone in the beachfront of affected areas, as it was deemed unsafe to build within this zone. Given this demarcation of the no-build zone, the post-tsunami housing program took a two-pronged approach. Families living outside the zone received cash grants to rebuild their homes (owner-driven rebuilding), while those residing inside the zone were provided with houses in alternative areas closer to their original residences (donor-driven relocation).

All affected individuals living outside the no-build buffer zone could receive a government grant to rebuild their homes. The grant, given in stages based on the extent of damage, required households to prove ownership. They could choose to rebuild their old home or construct a new one on land they owned. Families that effectively used their grant could also qualify for a Rs. 500,000 concessionary loan to meet additional housing needs.