New Delhi: Cyclone Ditwah has caused one of the largest flood events in Sri Lanka’s recent history, submerging 1.1 million hectares, roughly 20 per cent of the country’s land mass, and directly exposing 2.3 million people to cyclone-driven flooding, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The cyclone made landfall on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast on November 28, unleashing intense rainfall, widespread inundation and multiple landslides across the island. UNDP’s detailed impact assessment, in collaboration with Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre, warns that the physical impacts of the cyclone are compounded by deep pre-existing vulnerabilities in several districts.

According to the assessment, nearly 720,000 buildings were exposed to flooding, including 243 hospital

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