EXTRA TROOPS
In Sri Lanka, the military deployed thousands of extra troops to aid recovery efforts there after a devastating cyclone cut a swathe of destruction, killing 627 people.
More than 2 million people – nearly 10 per cent of the population – have been affected by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.
Sri Lanka is expecting further heavy monsoon rains on Monday, topping 5cm in many places, the Disaster Management Centre said.
It issued warnings of further landslides.
Army chief Lasantha Rodrigo said 38,500 security personnel had been deployed to boost recovery and clean-up operations in flood-affected and landslide-hit areas, nearly doubling the initial deployment.
“Since the disaster, security forces have been able to rescue 31,116 people who were in distress,” Rodrigo said in a statement.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake unveiled a recovery package, offering 10 million rupees (US$33,000) for victims to buy land in safer areas and rebuild.
There is also livelihood support and cash assistance to replace kitchen utensils and bedding, and to buy food.
It is not clear how much the relief package will cost the government, which is still emerging from economic meltdown in 2022 when it ran out of foreign exchange to finance even the most essential imports.
Dissanayake has said the government cannot fund reconstruction alone and has appealed for foreign assistance, including from the International Monetary Fund.
In Indonesia’s Banda Aceh, long queues formed for drinking water and fuel, and prices of basic commodities such as eggs were skyrocketing, an AFP correspondent said.
Seasonal monsoon rains are a feature of life in South Asia and Southeast Asia, flooding rice fields and nourishing the growth of other key crops.
However, climate change is making the phenomenon more erratic, unpredictable and deadly throughout the regions.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-sri-lanka-hardships-mount-flood-tolls-rise-5567626
