Arid weather continues to impact many lives across sixteen districts.

The Disaster Management Centre says that around 895,000 individuals from 227,440 families across the country have severely affected due to the arid weather.

Since May last year, the country has been experiencing a dry spell despite intermittent showers in some areas. However, the rainfall received was not sufficient to bring an end to the drought.

Locals in Puttalam who mainly depend on agriculture and fishing continue face the brunt of the dry weather.

With water levels in tanks dropping many farmlands that rely on them for them have also been destroyed. Farmers in many areas have been compelled to look on as they dry weather destroys their cultivation right before their eyes. Persons who have lost their only means of income can been seen collecting cow dung to sell.

” With the prevailing drought, The water levels of several tanks in the region including the Thabbowa reservoir have dropped. A number of reservoirs have already dried up completely. This has affected not only the people living in the area it has affected the fauna as well as the paddy fields in the area”, said a villager.

The Ministry of Disaster Management announced that it is in the process of preparing a mechanism to provide compensation for the cultivation that have been destroyed across the Island.It added that the respective Secretariats are estimating the damages and compensation for a period of four months starting from March will be provided to the Farmers.

Rs. 10,000/- is to be granted as compensation for an acre of Paddy Land destroyed by the drought.

The Ministry of Disaster Management said that compensation will also be provided for other cultivation also destroyed by the drought.

As cultivation perish in the face of the drought, similarly, people in many areas are having difficulty in obtaining clean drinking water.Due to the lack of water people from many villages in Kirinda have been forced to travel for miles in search of water.
Dry weather has also impacted the generation of hydro electricity.The Ministry of Power and Energy says water levels have dropped to 31 percent at reservoirs that generate hydro power.

It adds that less than 06 percent of the total daily generation of power is being generated through hydro power.

The Department of Meteorology says the Southern and Uva provinces can expect a rainfall tomorrow adding that some areas could experience a rainfall of 75mm.

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