Colombo: Sri Lanka's parliament was on Thursday told that LKR 500 billion would be additionally needed to restore livelihoods of those affected due to the devastating cyclone Ditwah.
Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya presented a supplementary estimate for government expenditure to pay for the cost of recovery and rehabilitation after devastation caused by Ditwah during a two-day special session.
“To restore the public life devastated by the natural disaster it has been estimated that LKR 500 billion would be required through a supplementary estimate,” the supplementary estimate, signed by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake as the Minister of Finance, stated.
The estimate shows LKR 150 billion for granting relief, LKR 100 billion for development assistance and LKR 250 billion for other related expenditures.
The estimate is to be debated on Friday before being approved.
Widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse across the island nation severely strained the country's disaster-response capacity in the wake of cyclone Ditwah.
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the chief recovery official, the Commissioner General of Essential Services said USD 6-7 billion would be required to fund the recovery effort.
Sri Lanka has asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an urgent release of USD 200 million from the global lender's rapid finance instrument (RFI) facility.
Commenting on the devastation to agriculture irrigation network, LS Suriyabandara, a senior official of the Irrigation Department, said some 75,000 acres of cultivation have been destroyed and the damage to irrigation facilities is estimated at LKR 22 billion.
As of Wednesday, as many as 643 people had died and 183 were still missing since November 16 as landslides, floods and rainfall caused widespread destruction, data from the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) in Colombo showed.
While 6,228 houses were fully damaged, 1,01,055 houses were damaged partially, the DMC said, adding, a total of 22,096 families and 66,132 people were still residing at 723 shelters. PTI CORR