Colombo: The government is making substantial progress in delivering relief funds to families affected by cyclone Ditwah, with efforts focused on supporting resettlement and restoring livelihoods.
According to News.LK, 70 per cent of the LKR 50,000 allowance intended for purchasing essential household and kitchen equipment has been disbursed to affected families. This allowance aims to assist families in their resettlement following the cyclone.
A total of 156,805 families across 25 districts have been identified as eligible for this allowance, with 109,512 families having already received the payments. In the Nuwara Eliya District, all 1,191 eligible families have received the full allowance, while in Matale and Kandy districts, the progress stands at 91 per cent and 84 per cent, respectively. Additionally, payments have been fully completed for eligible families in nine other districts, including Galle, Jaffna, and Badulla.
The government has also achieved a 97 per cent progress rate in distributing the
LKR 25,000 relief grant for post-disaster house cleaning and sanitation, with full disbursements in eight districts. Furthermore, the LKR 15,000 allowance for schoolchildren has reached 73 per cent of targeted beneficiaries, with ongoing efforts to distribute an additional LKR 10,000 from the President’s Fund.
Under the Ministry of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development, verification is underway for 6,370 registered business owners affected by the cyclone, with a one-time allowance of LKR 200,000 being allocated to 5,034 eligible applicants. Additionally, the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ programme, under the Project 5M initiative, is constructing new houses for families whose homes were completely destroyed, with an allocation of LKR 5 million per house.
The government has also launched a nationwide housing programme, ‘A Place to Belong – A Better Life’ National Housing Programmeme 2026, which includes 31,218 new houses, including 2,500 homes for families displaced by war. Efforts are also being made to disbur
se relief funds to farmers for crop damage while collecting data on livestock farm destruction to determine compensation.
The President has emphasized the importance of restoring affected communities’ livelihoods to a standard higher than pre-disaster conditions, and the government is executing a well-planned and managed relief programme to deliver the largest-ever payouts in the country’s history following a natural disaster.