The next three months will have Sri Lanka facing one of the worst droughts never seen in the last 30-40 years.
“The Meteorology Department predicted below average rain fall in the next three months and this has exacerbated an already precarious situation. In 2016, we only had 70 percent of the rain expected for that year, Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said.
“Though there was some rain in May and November, it was less than average and it didn’t make up for the loss,” Minister Yapa said. The minister was addressing a media briefing at the Government Information Department yesterday.
He added that the Met Department expects the rains to come by mid March.
The low rainfall has triggered a series of other catastrophes in the country dealing a severe blow to food production and power generation in 2017.
“The President appointed a Cabinet Sub Committee at the end of December with all the ministries concerned and we are working with all the international agencies and other organisations to monitor the situation and deal with problems in a faster and more effective manner,”the minister added.
“Information being collected from all ministries had revealed that most main irrigation tanks were up to 27 percent capacity while 220 medium size tanks were at 30 percent capacity,” he said.
“In addition, this year, only one third of all agricultural lands were planted which meant that there would be less food produced during the Yala season with effects spilling over to Maha,” Minister Yapa said.
“We have also had less than 35 percent of the rice fields sowed in the main rice belts of the country,”Yapa said and added that the government had decided to import 250MT of rice into the country to meet demand. The ministry has as of now identified the 13 districts, namely, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Hambantota, Monaragala, Kurunegala, Puttlam, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi, Jaffna, Batticoloa and Mullaitivu as the most vulnerable and ministry officials have been sent there to work with other government officials and identify areas in need. Certain areas will also have water scheduled for irrigation stopped as it would be diverted for drinking purposes.
Met Department Director K.H.S Premalal said that there would be less than average rains in January and February and that hope lay in the first inter monsoonal rains in mid March.
He also explained that the recent cold spell experienced across the country was due to dry cold winds blowing from India. “December- January are generally cool months but this time, the dry and cold winds from the North are driving down temperatures and in certain areas like Kandy there has been a cooling down of 5 degrees.
The winds have also led to less cloud formation and that is worsening the chances of rain,” Premalal said.
Between 17-18th we expect a change in wind direction and hopefully clouds will form and we will have a greater probability of rain.This however will not be enough to solve the issues of drought,” Premalal added.
The Ministry has promised to keep the public updated on the drought situation every week and urged that water and energy be used sparingly in the upcoming months.