The United Nations and its affiliated bodies yesterday assured President Mainthipala Sirisena that they would extend their fullest cooperation to the Presidential Task Force to provide drought relief. 

Top level UN officials, including UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative Una McCauley, the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Representative and Country Director for Sri Lanka Brenda Barton and FAO Chief Technical Advisor Emelda Berejenacalled on President Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday to discuss issues pertaining to the drought and the relief organisation. 

Top UN officials thanked the President for establishing a Task Force to monitor and supervise drought relief and assured that they would take every step to bring this impending calamity to the notice of the international community and seek their assistance. 

The UN representative said that as a first step, the UN could provide expertise in monitoring, evaluation and communication regarding the drought situation.  WFP Representative said that her organisation could extend the food or cash for work program to provide employment to rural people who were denied work because of the drought. She said that the food/cash for work program is already in operation in several districts. She said that such assurance of income to people would prevent them from indebtedness as there are instances of private money lenders providing the people with loans on exorbitant interest rates. She added that people should be encouraged to take loans from Government agencies that provide soft loans.

UN officials said that one of the main problems of the drought would be the drinking water shortage that would lead to health issues in the long run. They also discussed the issue of finding an adequate number of bowsers to supply water to drought affected areas.

The President thanked UN Heads for their concern over the drought situation and invited them to attend Task Force meetings every week to further monitor the situation.

Govt. declares hotline to report water shortages

The Government Disaster Management Centre yesterday declared ‘117’ a hot line for the public to inform on water supply shortages. Disaster Management Media Spokesman Pradeep Kodippli yesterday said that any the consumer can inform the National Water Supply and Drainage Board and other relevant authorities about water shortages through the hotline. 

The prevailing drought condition in nine districts has limited access to water for consumption.

Kodippli added that the consumers could use the hotline to report any water related issues in connection to prevailing drought conditions such as salinated water coming through water supply lines. Officials have been on standby to respond to any situation related to drinking water requirements within 24 hours, with officers from the Water Board being deployed to collect information on any shortage of drinking water.

He added that each District Secretariat and the Provincial Disaster Management Centers have kept alert as well.

The Government put out a request to people to manage the consumption of water to conserve the resources, Kodippili highlighted. He added that consumers should also save electricity and food to face the upcoming shortage.

A special task force has been deployed to assist drought-affected people innNine districts, including Trincomalee, Kandy, Gampaha, Hambantota, Monaragala, Badulla, Anuradhapura, Jaffna and Mannar.

Furthermore, President Maithripala Sirisena has directed the Disaster Management Ministry and all District and Divisional Secretaries to supply water bowsers and tanks. 

According to Disaster Management Centre figures, around 149, 688 people belonging to 45,440 families have been affected by the heavy drought.

The drought has affected 1381 people belonging to 440 families in Trincomalee district while 2510 people of 679 families in Kandy have been hit. 8647 people belonging to 2107 families have been affected in Gampaha district while 14,334 people from 3578 families in Hambantota district are affected by the drought.

Meanwhile, 910 people belonging to 3610 families in Monaragala district have been hit by the drought while in Badulla district 175 people from 55 families have been affected.

The Disaster Management Centre also said 1505 people belonging to 412 families in Anuradhapura district and 34,756 people from 10,235 families in Mannar district have been affected by the heavy drought.

The largest affected amount was reported in Jaffna district with 85,461 people belonging to 24,324 families affected.