A special meeting between Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar and Sri Lanka’s Leader of the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa, took place today at India House in Colombo.
During the meeting, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa expressed his gratitude to the Government of India for the “Sagar Bandhu” project implemented to provide relief to the people affected by the recent Cyclone Ditwah that struck Sri Lanka. He also conveyed, on behalf of Sri Lanka’s 22 million citizens, his sincere thanks to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian Minister of External Affairs, the Government of India, and the people of India for providing assistance totaling USD 450 million—comprising a grant of USD 100 million and a further USD 350 million as a low-interest concessional loan.
The Opposition Leader further pointed out that although a large number of people lost their lives in the 2004 tsunami, Sri Lanka failed to learn from that tragedy and establish a proper disaster management mechanism. As a result, many lives were again lost due to Cyclone Ditwah. He emphasized that it is imperative to learn from these experiences and establish a proper disaster management system and a dedicated ministry to address the country’s needs.
In this context, the Indian Minister of External Affairs noted that following the 1999 super cyclone in India’s Odisha state—which claimed 10,000 lives and affected 1.8 million people—India implemented a new disaster prevention and management framework. As a result, during the cyclones faced in 2013 and 2019, India was able to save around 1 million people and nearly 1.2 million people respectively. He stressed that Sri Lanka should also study and adopt such mechanisms to prevent and manage disasters effectively.
The Indian Minister of External Affairs further emphasized that the assistance provided by the Government of India should be delivered to the people with maximum transparency. In response, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa stated that the Opposition would provide its fullest possible support to ensure this. He also respectfully requested the Indian Minister of External Affairs to continue extending support and cooperation to Sri Lanka in the future.
