World Vision has come forward to help 4,750 families of Wattala and Ja-Ela areas in Gampaha District who have been affected by multiple disasters, providing them LKR 14 million worth of dry rations. They stated that there are nearly 8,000 children in these families and 675 families headed by women. Wattala and Ja-Ela areas that face high risk following a rise in Covid cases were also affected recently by severe flooding due to monsoon rains. Gampaha district recorded the highest number of affected families with over 20,500 displaced. In addition to that, the families living close to the coastal belt have suffered the loss of livelihood due to the X-Press Pearl shipwreck. “We’ve had parents calling us requesting food because they have not been able to give their children to eat for two days and we are unable to provide for all. This will bring them great comfort,” said P.D.T.C. Rajika, the Divisional Secretary, Wattala, during the handing over of goods. “These communities are highly vulnerable to disasters and this time their situation is much worse than what the government can respond to. Wattala alone had over 13,000 families (more than 50,000 individuals) affected by floods,” she said, “A large population of these communities depend on daily-waged labour and with the pandemic they are badly affected. So is the fishing community after the shipwreck. But whatever the disaster, World Vision has always been there to support. We are very grateful.” Commenting on the donation, J.W.S. Kithsiri, the Additional District Secretary of Gampaha, said: “World Vision is very different from other organisations in that they work in coordination with the government authorities at different levels. This is something we really appreciate because it helps avoid duplications and other confusions and we are able to allocate resources well.” Along with the dry ration packs, 10,000 facemasks World Vision received through the partnership with W. N. J. Imports & Exports were also distributed among 2,000 families. "Even though responding to disaster is something World Vision Lanka has done well over the 44 years it has been in operation in Sri Lanka, the Wattala and Ja-Ela flood response was one of the toughest we had to endure," remarked Dr. Dhanan Senathirajah, National Director of World Vision Lanka, "The country was under curfew-like travel restrictions and almost the entire country, especially the Western Province, was marked high-risk for Covid-19. Gathering our staff members, working with other organisations, and reaching out to the community members were harder than they usually are. However, no matter how hard the response was, once we see people benefitting from our work, it makes us want to do it more. I want to commend everyone involved in this, especially our team in Wattala and Ja-Ela."