Another Christmas arrives amidst challenging times..

• Not many people could afford to throw lavish parties in state-of-the-art apartments, making merry with friends and loved ones. For the average Sri Lankan, feeding his own family, settling bills and school fees etc., is perhaps the only celebration

This year, in many Sri Lankan households, Christmas would just be an after thought. The devastating impact of Cyclone Ditwah has left many unhealed wounds, sometimes in the form of loss of loved ones, and sometimes, the loss of property and all belongings. 

In fact, ever since COVID-19, people haven’t had the means to celebrate major days in the calendar, owing to various reasons. In the Sri Lankan context, Christmas has become a celebration among the elite. Not many people could afford to throw lavish parties in state-of-the-art apartments, making merry with friends and loved ones. For the average Sri Lankan, feeding his own family, settling bills and school fees etc., is perhaps the only celebration. 

The economic crisis posed significant challenges to the country’s economy, making poor people even poorer. Added to that were commitments made to the International Monetary Fund that impacted people in numerous aspects. For instance, those who have been depending on microfinance loans were gripped by mounting interests pushing them to obtain more loans. Despite the IMF’s conditions to introduce a social safety net for people in lower income segments, nothing fruitful has emerged out of these commitments or discussions. 

Discrepancies in distributing social welfare schemes such as Aswesuma highlights the level of bureaucracy and corruption within the system. It is common knowledge that many Aswesuma beneficiaries were grama Niladhari officials themselves and their associates. So, in this backdrop, people are increasingly losing their trust placed in the new government.

Despite President Dissanayake’s assurance that victims affected by the cyclone would be given Rs. 25,000 initially, people in rural areas complain that they haven’t received a penny. Many of them who have lost all their belongings, including the houses they lived in, are now in a dilemma. They feel that it would take many years to return to normalcy. 

In addition to losing all their belongings, people have also lost their livelihoods. In places such as Gampola, where entire hamlets were swept away due to landslides, some people have escaped with only the clothes that they were wearing. With government’s plan to resettle them to safer locations, people may have to look for alternative sources of income. 

Therefore children may have to find new schools, get adjusted to new surroundings and lifestyles. This maybe overwhelming for many people including the elderly generation. So, many people have to start again from scratch. But the challenges ahead for the government are manifold. From looking for lands that have no risk of landslides or floods to providing people with millions of rupees of compensation to settling the losses incurred by the disaster may take some time. 

Going forward, the government will have to invest in new technologies, materials and labour to build disaster-resilient housing and infrastructure. Sri Lanka cannot afford to rebuild whenever a natural disaster occurs. As a coastal nation, the country and its citizens should be better prepared for climate change. What has been the point of initiating various offices to address climate-change related matters when nothing is being done by these individuals or initiatives? It looks like people have been taken for a ride, fooling them to believe in various programmes to tackle climate change when in reality, nothing has been done to mitigate risk of disasters. 

So this cyclone is a wake-up call to the government and its experts to think anew; to understand the gravity of natural disasters and to act accordingly. People are no longer convinced by speeches full of promises, if these promises cannot be fulfilled. 

While wishing all citizens a blessed Christmas, let’s also hope that this country would soon be on a path towards healing and recovery.

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