Politics

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared that the government will not use the damage from Cyclone Ditwah as an excuse to stop or change its official programs. He made this comment during the opening ceremony of the national initiative “Rebuilding Sri Lanka,” which aims to manage the country’s reconstruction efforts. The President pointed out that, even though Sri Lanka was already recovering from economic difficulties, the cyclone struck, but that does not mean the government will back down from its plans. “We are determined to face this disaster without abandoning our policy framework,” he stated. “In the past, disasters have often been used as reasons to delay or change important initiatives. For 30 years, destruction was often blamed on the war. Similarly, we could have used the pandemic as an excuse for this disaster. However, we chose not to let this event derail our programs.” The cyclone left 700,000 people without homes, damaged around 6,000 houses, and partially affected about 110,000 more. Additionally, around 10,000 houses were deemed unsafe, and their occupants were told to evacuate. The President affirmed his responsibility to the mandate given to the current government and stressed that he will not let outside influences weaken that mandate. Parliament has approved a supplementary budget of Rs. 500 billion to help deal with the disaster. Out of this amount, Rs. 5,000 million has been set aside to rebuild 2,500 destroyed homes, with plans to construct over 50,000 houses by 2026.