627 dead in Sri Lanka landslides as rains batter South, Southeast Asia
At least 1,812 people have been killed in the natural disasters rolling across Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam
Sri Lankan authorities issued fresh landslide warnings on Sunday, with rains lashing areas already devastated by a powerful cyclone as the death toll rose to 627.
A chain of tropical storms and monsoonal rains has battered Southeast and South Asia, setting off landslides, flooding vast tracts and cutting off communities, from the rainforests of Sumatra to Sri Lanka’s highland plantations.
Indonesia’s president on Sunday vowed to step up aid, with demonstrators rallying after the country’s death toll surpassed 900.
More than two million people in Sri Lanka – nearly 10 per cent of the population – have been affected by last week’s floods and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, the worst on the island this century.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said monsoon storms were adding more rain and making hillsides unstable, including in the central mountainous region and the north-western midlands.