"When the rains began, Layani Rasika Niroshani was not worried. The 36-year-old mother of two was used to the heavy monsoon showers that drench Sri Lanka's hilly central region of Badulla every year. But as it kept pounding down without stopping, the family started to feel jittery. Some relocated to a relative's house, but her brother and his wife decided to stay behind to collect the valuables."
"She and fellow villagers had spent the past two days digging in the mud, trying to salvage any of their belongings, but only managing to retrieve a few kitchen pots and some clothes. My family is in shock. We have to rebuild from scratch. Sometimes that's even worse than living, she said. The scale of the damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah is still unclear,"
Heavy monsoon rains triggered Cyclone Ditwah, causing landslides that destroyed thousands of homes in Sri Lanka's hilly central region. Entire villages were decimated and many homes, schools and businesses remained flooded, including in the capital Colombo. By late Monday the death toll across the island was confirmed as 366, with Badulla recording 71 confirmed dead and 53 still missing. Survivors dug through mud to salvage a few possessions while many families were left homeless and in shock, forced to rebuild from scratch. Helicopters were dispatched to drop food and essential supplies to those stranded. The president described the disaster as the largest and most challenging in the nation's history.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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