&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Cyclone Ditwah: Sri Lanka declares emergency as death toll rises to 132; India braces for impact")
Sri Lanka on Saturday (Nov 29) declared a state of emergency and urged the international community for assistance as the death toll from incessant rains and flooding caused by Cyclone Ditwah reached 132, with another 176 still missing. The Cyclone triggered calamity has destroyed more than 15,000 homes, rendering over 78,000 people homeless. The affected are currently living in government-run temporary shelters, according to the Disaster Management Centre (CMC).
"We have 132 confirmed dead and another 176 missing," DMC Director-General Sampath Kotuwegoda said, adding that relief efforts had been ramped up with the deployment of the army, navy and air force.
The military rescued 69 bus passengers on Saturday, including a German tourist, who were marooned in the Anuradhapura district after a 24-hour operation involving a helicopter and naval boats.
President Anura Kumara Dissanyake declared a state of emergency, granting him additional powers to mitigate the devastation caused by a week of incessant torrential rains across the country.
Stepping forward immediately, India launched ‘Operation Sagar Bandhu' to assist Sri Lanka in its hour of crisis. The first tranche of relief materials was handed over after the consignments were transported by the Indian Navy's aircraft carrier INS Vikrant and frontline ship INS Udaigiri to the island nation.
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India braces for Impact
Indian authorities on Saturday intensified their preparation for the impact of Cyclone Ditwah, taking emergency measures including deployment of National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) and SDRF teams, building temporary shelters, and emergency evacuations, as it made its way up the southwest Bay of Bengal, bringing stronger winds, a longer spell of rains in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry.
Chennai airport has cancelled 54 flights as the slow-moving Cyclone is expected to approach the southern state. By Friday evening, Cyclone Ditwah was positioned around 450 km south of Chennai, moving north–northwest at 7 km/h.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert and forecasted "Heavy to Very Heavy Rainfall with isolated Extremely Heavy Rainfall very likely at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry & Karaikal on Saturday."
"The Cyclonic storm over the southwest Bay of Bengal is moving north-northwest and is expected near the North Tamil Nadu–Puducherry–South Andhra Pradesh coast by early Nov 30," it added.
