Five months is not a long time in the life of a nation recovering from disaster. Yet in Sri Lanka, the memory of Cyclone Ditwah already risks being pushed aside by the arrival of the next monsoon season.
The rains have begun once more. The Department of Meteorology has warned that a low-level atmospheric disturbance near Sri Lanka is likely to develop into a low-pressure area around 11 May, bringing continued heavy rainfall across much of the island. Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern, Uva, North-western and Northern Provinces are all expected to receive heavy showers exceeding 100 mm in places. Reservoirs are already spilling. Rivers are swelling. Landslide-prone slopes are becoming unstable again.
The question is, are we truly prepared to face another season of intense weather while still struggling to recover from the devastation of Ditwah?
Cyclone Ditwah was not merely another seasonal weather event. It was one of the worst natural disasters in recent memory. More than 600 lives were lost. Hundreds remain missing. Around 2.2 million people were affected. Entire communities in Nuwara Eliya, Kandy and Badulla were buried under landslides or submerged by floods. Thousands of homes became uninhabitable. Many families remain displaced even now, months later, living in temporary shelters or with relatives, uncertain about when or whether they will return home.
The destruction to infrastructure remains visible across the country. Rail lines were ripped apart in 223 locations, with entire sections suspended due to erosion beneath the tracks. The upcountry railway line, one of the most vital transport arteries in the country, is still not fully operational. Repairs continue with assistance from India, but the target for complete restoration has now been pushed back until the end of this year. Roads in several areas continue to undergo repairs. Some communities remain partially isolated whenever heavy rains fall.
This is the reality with which we enter the monsoon season.
Against this backdrop, the Government’s responsibility extends far beyond issuing weather warnings and convening emergency meetings. Preparedness is not measured by statements. It is measured by visible readiness on the ground.
The authorities must first confront the uncomfortable truth that many vulnerable communities remain exposed. Landslide-prone areas in the hill country, already weakened by last year’s catastrophe, face renewed danger with every prolonged downpour. Slopes destabilised by Ditwah may not withstand another season of heavy rain. Temporary repairs and patchwork engineering solutions may prove inadequate under sustained weather pressure.
Evacuation plans must therefore be reviewed immediately. Are vulnerable families aware of where to go? Are transport arrangements in place? Are emergency shelters adequately stocked? Have local authorities identified communities most at risk? These are not bureaucratic exercises. They are matters that will determine whether lives are saved or lost.
Equally concerning is the state of the country’s water management systems. Several major reservoirs, including Lunugamwehera, Weheragala, Rajanganaya and Deduru Oya, are already spilling significant volumes of water downstream. Residents in low-lying areas have been urged to remain vigilant, but warnings alone are insufficient if communication systems fail or if vulnerable communities lack the means to respond quickly.
Sri Lanka has repeatedly demonstrated a troubling tendency to react to disasters rather than prepare for them. After every major flood or landslide, there is temporary urgency, media attention and official promises. Yet once waters recede, long-term mitigation often fades into the background. Drainage systems remain neglected. Illegal construction continues in environmentally sensitive areas. Encroachment into flood plains proceeds unchecked. Hillsides are stripped of vegetation despite repeated warnings from experts.
Ditwah should have been a turning point. It exposed the enormous human and economic cost of failing to respect environmental realities and climate risks. The monsoon now offers an immediate test of whether lessons were genuinely learned.
Climate patterns are becoming increasingly unpredictable and severe. Extreme rainfall events are no longer rare occurrences. Governments can no longer approach monsoon management as a routine seasonal matter. It requires coordinated disaster planning, stronger local government preparedness, investment in resilient infrastructure and continuous public education.
We cannot prevent the monsoon. But we can reduce the scale of tragedy that often accompanies it.
The rains are returning before the country has fully recovered from the last disaster. That alone should serve as a warning. The Government still has time to act decisively, strengthen preparedness and protect vulnerable communities. But that window may close quickly if the coming weeks bring the kind of relentless weather forecasters are already warning about.
The cost of being unprepared is already written across the scars left by Ditwah.