Overview
- Sri Lanka confirms 607 dead and 214 missing after the cyclone, with more than 2 million people affected and about 150,000 still in state shelters.
- Damage assessments cite over 71,000 homes hit, including nearly 5,000 destroyed by flooding and landslides.
- The government announces payouts of up to 10 million rupees for survivors to buy land and rebuild, plus 1 million rupees per death or permanent disability, as the IMF reviews a $200 million top-up to an imminent $347 million tranche.
- Authorities issue fresh alerts for heavy rain and landslides and urge evacuees from central highlands not to return to at-risk slopes.
- In Indonesia’s Aceh province, the death toll reaches 908 with 410 missing, the governor warns of hunger in cut-off communities, and regional fatalities since last week exceed 1,770 across Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam.