Over 90 Saved by NDRF Amid Sri Lanka Cyclone

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescuers have saved more than 90 people affected by landslides or floods in Sri Lanka that has been hit by the devastating Cyclone Ditwah, officials said on Tuesday.

India had sent two teams of the federal contingency force, comprising 80 personnel and four dogs, as part of Operation Sagar Bandhu to initiate relief-and-rescue measures in the affected areas of its southern maritime neighbour.

“The NDRF rescuers are deployed in landslide- and flood-affected areas of Kaduwela, Badulla and Puttalam. The teams have rescued a total of 64 people, evacuated 28 and retrieved a body till early Tuesday,” an official said.

The teams are assisted by Sri Lankan security forces and administration officials and they have also distributed about 800 food packets among 1,070 locals, the officials said.

The force has retrieved a body from Badulla from under five feet of debris, they added.

The NDRF personnel have also rescued a nine-month pregnant woman from Puttalam.

There are four women rescuers in the 80-member NDRF team and they have been tasked with specifically assisting local women, the officials said.

The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) based in Colombo has confirmed at least 410 deaths and 336 people missing till Tuesday morning in the catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.