Over 500,000 people still affected by drought

Xinhua: Over 500,000 people still remain affected by the drought in 10 districts of Sri Lanka, according to the situation report issued by the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre (DMC) yesterday.

The DMC said the 10 districts, located in the Northern, Northwestern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, had been affected and the Puttalam District in the North Western Province is the worst-affected area with 216,670 people suffering from the drought.

DMC spokesman Pradeep Kodippili told Xinhua that people had been affected by the drought in terms of the scarcity of drinking water and crop failures.

However, he said the southern, central and western parts of Sri Lanka were experiencing rain.