{"id":155514,"date":"2026-04-05T16:56:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155514"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:56:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:56:26","slug":"one-fifth-of-sri-lanka-inundated-by-cyclone-ditwah-undp-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/04\/05\/one-fifth-of-sri-lanka-inundated-by-cyclone-ditwah-undp-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"One-fifth of Sri Lanka inundated by\u00a0cyclone\u00a0Ditwah, UNDP\u00a0analysis\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

UNDP<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

UNDP satellite data shows 2.3 million Sri Lankans exposed and 1.1 million hectares flooded as cyclone Ditwah strains infrastructure and public services<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 9, 2025<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
Mapping the Initial Impact of Cyclone Ditwah in Sri LankaSource:Geosmart\/Vantor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Colombo\/New York, 9 Dec 2025<\/strong> \u2013 An estimated 2.3 million people \u2013 more than half of them women \u2013 were living in areas flooded by Cyclone Ditwah that struck Sri Lanka on 28 November. New geospatial analysis<\/a> from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows floodwaters from the cyclone inundated more than 1.1 million hectares \u2013 almost 20 percent of the country\u2019s land area \u2013 and caused significant damage to homes, infrastructure and essential services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The analysis, which draws from disaster related data from the Government of Sri Lanka, provides a nationwide picture of the cyclone\u2019s impact, which is being termed as one of the worst flooding disasters to hit Sri Lanka in decades.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over half of the people in the flooded areas were living in households already facing multiple vulnerabilities before the cyclone, including unstable income, high debt, and limited ability to cope with disasters. Under these conditions, even moderate shocks can turn into long-lasting setbacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The floodwaters reached nearly 720,000 buildings, about one in every twelve buildings in the country. Over 16,000 kilometres of roads, enough to circle the island\u2019s coastline more than twelve times, were exposed to flooding. Similarly, over 278 km of railway tracks and 480 bridges were located in flooded areas.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Cyclone Ditwah struck regions already weakened by years of economic stress,\u201d said Azusa Kubota, UNDP Resident Representative in Sri Lanka<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The exposed population includes approximately 1.2 million women, 522,000 children and 263,000 older persons, with over 60% of all exposed people living in just two districts (Colombo and Gampaha). Many in affected areas across the country live in high-risk, disaster-prone areas, requiring a permeant solution. This concentration of exposure is placing\u202fheavy pressure on essential services <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where high flooding and high vulnerability overlap, recovery is likely to be slower and more costly. Early action in these locations is critical,\u201d Kubota said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the country\u2019s hilly inland, the cyclone triggered around 1,200 landslides. These events can isolate at-risk communities by disrupting access to essential services such as health care and slowing rescue operations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Cyclone Ditwah is a stark reminder of how fast compounding crises can unfold,\u201d said Devanand Ramiah, Chief of Crisis Readiness, Response, and Recovery at UNDP\u2019s Crisis Bureau.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Working closely with the national authorities and partners, UNDP is calling for scaled-up early recovery support to help communities get back on their feet. This includes restoring essential services, supporting affected households, particularly women, children, and older persons, repairing key transport and service-delivery infrastructure, and strengthening local systems for future climate resilience.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNDP with the UN family is working with government, our partners and communities, to support those most affected through immediate relief and early recovery efforts. The \u2018rebuild stronger and better\u2019 is essential and will take time\u201d, said Azusa Kubota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysis and full set of data is available here<\/strong>: Mapping the initial impact of Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UNDP UNDP satellite data shows 2.3 million Sri Lankans exposed and 1.1 million hectares flooded as cyclone Ditwah strains infrastructure and public services December 9, 2025 Colombo\/New York, 9 Dec 2025 \u2013 An estimated 2.3 million people \u2013 more than half of them women \u2013 were living in areas flooded by Cyclone Ditwah that struck Sri Lanka on 28 November. New geospatial analysis from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155515,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155514\/revisions\/155515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}