Cyclone Ditwah

Cyclone Ditwah, the worst cyclone to hit Sri Lanka in a century, caused widespread devastation in early December 2025. The storm resulted in over 600 deaths in Sri Lanka alone, with the overall death toll across Asia exceeding 1,000. Hundreds of thousands of homes were destroyed, and key sectors like tea plantations and rice fields suffered significant damage, impacting Sri Lanka's export revenue and food security. The disaster has exacerbated Sri Lanka's existing economic challenges, with officials estimating billions of dollars in damages. Ongoing heavy rainfall is hindering recovery efforts and increasing the risk of landslides. The severity of the storm has prompted calls for debt repayment suspension to aid Sri Lanka's recovery, and scientists suggest the climate crisis intensified the monsoon rains. Rescue efforts continue, but the scale of the destruction has been described as the most challenging in the nation's history, leaving many Sri Lankans to rebuild their lives from scratch.