World Vision

February 16, 2011

Responding to Floods in Sri Lanka

Earlier this month, I was in Sri Lanka, a beautiful island off the coast of India, with pristine beaches and mist shrouded mountains. The sun soaked beaches of Bentota on the western coast of Sri Lanka belied the reality that the country was facing its worst natural disaster since the Asian tsunami in 2004. Since January, due to heavy rains the eastern coasts of the country has experienced massive flooding. According to the Disaster Management Center over 1.2 million people have been affected, with the areas of Ampara, Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Trincomalee being the worst affected.