Harassing Harini while we are in Ditwah ditch

Our country is like no other. A past president once described this land as the ‘Wonder of Asia’. How right he was. We as a people were able to successfully end a near three-decade-long insurgency aimed at dividing the country.  A few years later, we overthrew -- largely bloodlessly -- an elected president who oversaw the country’s fall into a state of bankruptcy. The economy was balanced via an unelected president who failed to win his seat in parliament.

Today the country has been devastated with over $4 billion in damages caused by Cyclone Ditwah. The material damage is estimated to be around three times greater than that caused by the tsunami.  But, our political leaders cannot find it in themselves to put aside petty party political differences to jointly face the crisis. This is Sri Lanka -- where every prospect pleases and politicians alone are vile(with apologies to Bishop Heber). 

According to the Disaster Management Centre, on November 29 2025,  the cyclone affected 25 districts, impacting 316,366 families and 1,151,776 individuals, with 366 confirmed deaths and 367 people reported missing.

Evacuation efforts relocated 61,612 families (218,526 persons) into 1,564 safety centres.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) reported the cyclone completely destroyed 6,200 houses and partially damaged 96,545 others.As of January 9, 2026, a total of 6,074 families (19,340 people) were still residing in 205 relief centres.

These people are now being asked to move out of these shelters –mainly schools and places of worship. Additionally, many others remain displaced, staying with relatives or friends. The question is -- where are they to go, with entire villages destroyed? In all,  Cyclone Ditwah caused an estimated $4.1 billion in direct physical damage. According to a World Bank Group Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE)report, infrastructural damage is estimated to be around $1.735 billion. Housing $985 million, and agriculture $814 million, disrupting services and livelihoods.. Key losses included damage to roads, railways, and water networks. Some estimates suggesting over $320 million just for railway track restoration. 

Around 99 per cent of roads damaged, according to the Road Development Authority (RDA), have been temporarily renovated. The RDA Director General added that when roads are damaged, the first priority is to clear them. He stressed reconstruction would start immediately. 

In other words,  renovation work is yet to be started. The country’s rail network is in  even worse disarray. The General Manager of Railways said immediately after the cyclone that only a third of the track was operable. 

Commissioner General of Essential Services estimated the economic loss caused by Cyclone Ditwah was roughly around US $ 6 to 7 billion.

Unfortunately, our politicians do not see an urgency to come together to rebuild infrastructure, rehabilitate victims and implement plans to prevent a recurrence of similar disasters.

Rather, politically motivated distractions via personalised attacks on Prime Minister cum Education Minister Harini Amarasuriya for a bureaucratic error in one of the texts in the education module for Grade Six students are preventing attention being focussed on disaster relief and rehabilitation.

While Opposition political parties need be congratulated for spotting the error in the publication before it reached students, their over-reaction needlessly calling for the resignation of  Ms. Amarasuriya and personally slandering her is not acceptable.

What is worse is that these distractions shift focus away from the pathetic situation of  cyclone victims. Focus needs be on implementing plans to ensure a non-recurrence of similar disasters, and rehabilitation of victims. Today, the  government is asking displaced persons (over 13,000) still living in relief centres to vacate these camps.

Where do these people go? Their homes have been destroyed. Where are they expected to stay? In the tea plantations, around 10,000 plantation workers lost their homes. Many of them remain in relief centres. They need to be rehoused, on stable land.

Many small farmers in the hill country too,  lost their homes and lands to landslides. They cannot go back. What is their future? Providing houses on 10-perch blocks of land will not suffice. These are farmers and agriculturalists.

The Government needs to focus on practical solutions to the victims of Ditwah, disaster management and controlling the cost of living. Similarly,  the Oppositions needs to get its priorities right and not create mountains out of molehills.
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