Week-13-2025

Sri Lanka, while disaster-ready for milder cyclones, isn’t prepared for Ditwah-level devastation. In the weeks to come, audits will assess the gaps in our disaster management systems. But for now, we look at what worked and what didn’t – asking if any of the 486 deaths could have been avoided.

People are dying of water-borne diseases, while food prices are likely to remain elevated. Most businesses in affected areas are operational, but not yet operating at capacity. Tea exports likely to fall by 10 percent. Damage to roads and bridges is severe. Reconstruction could take up to two years.

This week’s Diary is rightly muted. But Colombo has no less than 26 Christmas Carol events coming up. Timeout has the full list, so we won’t bother writing them all out. A wee