Sri Lanka issues landslide warnings as cyclone toll hits 618

COLOMBO — Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday with rains lashing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone, as the death toll rose to 618.

More than two million people -- nearly 10 percent of the population -- have been affected by last week's floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said monsoon storms were adding more rain and making hillsides unstable, including the central mountainous region and the north-western midlands.

Helicopters and planes were being used on Sunday to supply communities cut off by landslides in the centre of the country.

The Sri Lanka Air Force said it had received a planeload of relief supplies from Myanmar on Sunday, the latest batch of foreign aid.

The government has confirmed 618 dead -- 464 from the lush tea-growing central region -- while 209 people remain unaccounted for.

A flood victim restores his belongings in the aftermath of Cyclone Ditwah, along railway tracks in Kandy on December 6, 2025. A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has pummelled Southeast and South Asia, triggering landslides and flash floods from the Sumatran rainforest to the highland plantations of Sri Lanka. Some 1,770 people have been killed in natural disasters unfolding across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam since last week. (AFP Photo)

The number of people in state-run refugee camps had dropped to 100,000 from a peak of 225,000 as floodwaters receded across the island by Sunday, the DMC said.

More than 75,000 homes were damaged, including close to 5,000 that were completely destroyed, it added.

The government on Friday unveiled a major compensation package to rebuild homes and revive businesses wiped out by the natural disaster, which hit the island as it was emerging from its 2022 economic meltdown.

A senior official earlier said recovery and reconstruction might cost up to $7 billion.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday it was considering Sri Lanka’s request for an additional $200 million to help with rebuilding.

The money is on top of the $347 million tranche due later this month, part of a four-year, $2.9 billion IMF bailout loan agreed in 2023.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament on Friday that Sri Lanka’s economy had made a significant recovery, but was not strong enough to withstand the latest shock alone.

Survivors will be offered up to 10 million rupees ($33,000) to buy land in a safer location and build a new house, the finance ministry said in a statement late on Friday.

One million rupees is being offered in compensation for each person killed or left permanently disabled.

The government did not say how much the package would cost, raising concerns given the country's recent economic turbulence.

The central bank has ordered commercial lenders, both state-owned and private, to reschedule loans.