India has stepped up emergency relief to cyclone-hit Sri Lanka, sending additional movable modular Bailey bridge systems on Thursday to help reconnect regions cut off by catastrophic flooding and landslides. The island nation has been battling widespread devastation since Cyclone Ditwah struck on November 16, collapsing key infrastructure and overwhelming disaster-response systems. As of Thursday evening, at least 486 people have been killed and 341 remain missing, underscoring the scale of the crisis.
A C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force delivered more Bailey bridge units on Thursday, a day after an earlier batch arrived along with 500 water purification systems. The High Commission of India in Colombo said the bridges can be assembled within hours to replace collapsed road links, restoring access for relief teams and stranded communities. The latest flight also transported 25 specialists, including engineers to install the bridges and a medical team to support the field hospital already operating in Sri Lanka. Engineers from the earlier deployment have begun reconnaissance and installation at priority sites.
Humanitarian cooperation is also taking place digitally. In a virtual meeting on Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh Real Time Governance Secretary Bhaskar Katamneni presented a disaster-response “digital toolkit” to Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Advisor to the Sri Lankan President on Digital Economy, and the GovTech team, sharing best practices for disaster management.
India’s support forms part of Operation Sagar Bandhu, involving air, sea and ground missions to deliver urgent assistance. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake publicly thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India’s continued help during the escalating crisis.
The scale of humanitarian need continues to grow. According to Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre, more than 1.84 million people from over 5.19 lakh families have been marooned. The government is running 1,347 relief centres, sheltering over 188,000 people. Telecommunications authorities report that while 75% of mobile coverage has been restored, thousands of communication distribution points remain offline due to fuel and electricity shortages.
The mounting disaster has also claimed the lives of eight relief personnel, including a Sri Lankan Air Force pilot during an airdrop mission, five Navy rescuers, a Road Development Authority worker and an electricity board employee. Officials estimate the economic damage from Cyclone Ditwah at USD 6–7 billion, equivalent to 3–5% of Sri Lanka’s GDP, with full recovery expected to take months if not years.
