🚨 Cyclone Ditwah Exposes Critical Gaps in SL Health & Disaster Systems

• Human Toll: The cyclone has resulted in a death toll of 355+ and rising, with over 200,000 displaced, heavily impacting the central hills and low-lying river basins. • Infrastructure Risk: A considerable number of hospitals and medical centres operate in high flood and landslide-risk areas, making facilities themselves vulnerable and disrupting access to care. • Epidemiological Threat: The physical exposure quickly creates an epidemiological risk. Flood-prone districts are already where some of the highest average annual dengue and leptospirosis cases are reported, suggesting a likely "second wave" of climate-sensitive illnesses. • Systemic Failure: The disaster response ecosystem is fragmented due to ad hoc coordination between the Ministry of Health and the Disaster Management Centre (DMC). Frontline workers lack integrated dashboards, relying on informal, siloed information during crises. • Urgent Solutions (IPS Call): An urgent call for "Digital Fortification" is proposed, requiring: An integrated emergency coordination platform to connect the DMC, MoH, hospitals, and field staff. A climate and health surveillance system that combines real-time climate/hazard data with routine disease reporting to issue specific health warnings. • Way Forward: Sri Lanka must transform its disaster preparedness by upgrading and linking existing digital health tools to build a more intelligent and anticipatory system as climate disasters become more frequent.