More than one million people are affected by monsoon rains in Sri Lanka. The seasonal rain started in late December 2010 and is described as the heaviest rains in more than a hundred years. The Danish Refugee Council is one of the aid agencies now responding to the crisis in North-East Sri Lanka.

A large number of the flood-hit communities in North–East Sri Lanka are home to people who have only recently returned after years of displacement. With the relative peaceful situation following the conflict in northern Sri Lanka, hundreds of families have resettled in their areas of origin, but still struggle to build new and sustainable homes and livelihoods.

With the devastating seasonal monsoon rains much of what has been achieved in recent years and even months is now gone in some areas leaving increased food insecurity and general vulnerability.

"Some families have lost livestock and others have lost their crops meaning that their livelihoods are now threatened. People in these areas were already vulnerable, struggling to establish themselves after having returned from displacement," says Dorthe Egebech Warnaars, the Danish Refugee Council’s programme coordinator for Sri Lanka.

At the height of the floods more than one million people were directly affected, with 27 deaths and 12 people reported missing. Food items as well as relief kits have so far been distributed by the Danish Refugee Council in 15 villages, primarily areas of recent returnees.

The flood response in North-East Sri Lanka is funded through DRC’s own resources as well as with funds from SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency).

Since mid-January flood waters began to recede in some areas and many people have been able to return home, however to devastation and loss. The Singhalese authorities have established temporary relocation centres for those who are still unable to return home. More than 360,000 people were still displaced when the floods receded. 

The Danish Refugee Council has worked in Sri Lanka since 1998 in support of internally displaced due to the conflict. In May 2009, the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Tamil Eelam) ended after almost 25 years. The conflict resulted in large-scale multiple displacement throughout the north and east of the country. On top of the conflict, the coastal areas of three of the districts were hit by the 2004 tsunami disaster, which created further destruction of personal property and public infrastructure, and forced more people to leave their homes.

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