AMN
Indian naval divers and medical teams today joined rescue efforts in Sri Lanka’s flood-hit regions. The death toll in the country’s worst torrential rains since 2003 climbed today to 194. The government has initiated efforts to purify wells and other potable water sources which have been contaminated by the floods as tens of thousands of affected people are left without safe drinking water.
Nearly 600,000 people have been forced to abandon their houses, with thousands suffering structural damage from flood inundation and landslides. The weather has begun to clear, and many of the more than 100,000 people, evacuated over the weekend, had returned home to clear debris and mud from their waterlogged homes.
The Indian contingent of more than 300 navy personnel is assisting in the relief, with divers searching the brackish waters and medical teams seeing patients in makeshift tents set up at shelters. A third Indian naval ship arrived today, bringing relief supplies including rice, lentils, sugar, milk and blankets for the displaced.