COLOMBO (News 1st) - The Sirasa/Shakthi Sahana-Yathra Flood Relief initiative was deployed out of its Headquarters in Colombo this morning, heading out to affected regions mainly in the North and Northeast of Sri Lanka.
Many parts of Sri Lanka faced devastating floods over the weekend, as cyclonic conditions brought heavy rain especially to the island's North Eastern region.
Thousands of hectares of paddy and other crops have been destroyed leaving countless numbers of farming communities devastated.
Responding to this emergency, the Sahana Yathra relief programme was launched 48 hours ago by calling on donations of dry rations to be dropped off at collection centres around Colombo.
“The response has been overwhelming”, noted Chevaan Daniel, the Head of the MTV and MBC Media Network. “The Chairman, Sashi Rajamahendran decided we would go ahead with the effort and our experienced mechanism was set in motion. A big thank you to the people of Sri Lanka for responding as they did- with a heart for those in dire need of help”, he added.
Sahana Yathra will see desperately needed dry ration packs being distributed to communities in the most difficult to reach parts of flood affected areas, using the strength, reach and experience of the network's Provincial Correspondents.
Sirasa Shakthi Sahana Yathra is an award winning disaster response initiative operated by the MTV/MBC Media Network and has been supporting communities in Sri Lanka since1999.