KEY POINTS
- Pakistan rushed emergency aid to Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah, following a call for help from Colombo.
- PM Sharif and COAS Munir directed NDMA to activate an immediate support plan and coordinate relief efforts.
- Pakistan Navy frigate PNS Saif offloaded food, medicines, boats, life jackets and other emergency supplies.
- A 45-member Pakistan Army Urban Search & Rescue team had been readied to fly from Islamabad on a PAF C 130 aircraft to join the on-ground operations.
- However, India did not provide clearance humanitarian effort for Sri Lanka, delaying Pakistan’s humanitarian mission to assist Sri Lanka.
- NDMA is coordinating two 100-ton logistics flights carrying tents, blankets, food and other essentials.
- Pakistan will increase the humanitarian assistance if required to be upscaled.
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Pakistan has extended urgent humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka as the island nation battles its deadliest natural disaster in years. Cyclone Ditwah has caused catastrophic flooding, landslides and widespread destruction across the country.
Officials in Sri Lanka said on Monday that at least 355 people had been killed, with hundreds still missing, after the storm made landfall on 28 November.
The cyclone formed east of Sri Lanka and swept northward across the island, triggering torrential rains of more than 300 mm in several central and eastern regions.
It was the worst weather disaster to hit the country since the 2017 floods and came at a time when Sri Lanka was already struggling with an economic crisis.
Casualties, mass displacement
Sri Lankan authorities reported 366 people missing and more than 500,000 affected nationwide. Over 147,000 people have been forced into more than 800 temporary shelters.
Another 968,000 people require humanitarian assistance, and more than 25,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged.
Most fatalities were in the central and eastern regions of the country, where landslides buried homes and cut off entire villages.
Cyclone has since moved toward southern India, but its residual effects continue to cause challenges in Sri Lanka as of today.
Officials said that about a third of the country was without electricity or running water as a state of emergency was declared. Authorities have ordered an evacuation as water levels in the Kelani River continue to rise.
Visuals from Colombo showed residents salvaging belongings from flooded homes along the banks of the Kelani River. Train and flight services resumed after earlier disruptions, but schools remain closed.
Weather authorities said the storm has weakened while moving northwards, but residual effects continue to pose challenges. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said it was the “largest and most challenging” natural disaster in the country’s history.
Pakistan’s swift response to call for assistance
Pakistan has responded swiftly to Sri Lanka’s call for international assistance. At the call for help from the Sri Lankan government, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir have offered “all possible immediate help”.
The Prime Minister and COAS have directed the country’s disaster management authority to offer all possible immediate help.
PM Sharif has ordered the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to coordinate an emergency support plan, senior NDMA officials told WE News English. Pakistan is leveraging its naval presence in the region to deliver rapid relief, underscoring “bilateral ties and regional solidarity”, the NDMA officials said
Pakistan Navy vessel PNS Saif and an aviation asset on board is available to assist in surveillance and rescue operations, officials said.
Pakistan Navy frigate PNS Saif, which was docked in Colombo for the International Fleet Review 2025, swiftly offloaded humanitarian aid. The supplies included food, dry rations, emergency medicines, and essential equipment like boats and life jackets, Pakistan’s High Commission said.
A 45-member Pakistan Army Urban Search & Rescue team had been readied by GHQ, PAF and NDMA to fly from Islamabad, in Pakistan Air Force C 130 aircraft to join the on-ground search operations, the senior NDMA officials said.
However, India did not provide clearance humanitarian effort for Sri Lanka, delaying Pakistan’s humanitarian mission to assist cyclone-hit Sri Lanka, the NDMA officials said.
Senior Pakistan officials said that NDMA reached out to seek commercial cargo airliners of 100 tons capacity to dispatch support to Sri Lanka. They are taking too long and may again suffer from Indian airspace clearance.
NDMA will now send a 200-ton assistance aid package via commercial sea cargo containers. That will reach in eight days, same time as envisaged for two-flight operation which is now looking uncertain due to India, officials said.
Pakistan will add up the humanitarian assistance if required to be upscaled, Pakistan’s High Commission said. Prime Minister Sharif has given specific instructions to the Pakistan NDMA to collate resources.
Pakistan Navy’s HADR mission in Sri Lanka continued as PNS SAIF’s embarked Z-9 helicopter rescued a family stranded for five days in flooded Kotikawatta area, including a 7 month old infant. The operation reflects PN’s professionalism and commitment to global humanitarian duties pic.twitter.com/nGDQKCAq8l
— DGPR (Navy) (@dgprPaknavy) December 1, 2025
Regional impact of cyclone Ditwah
Cyclone Ditwah also brought heavy rains to southern India. Officials in Tamil Nadu confirmed three deaths in rain-related incidents. The storm, now a deep depression located about 50 km off Chennai, is expected to weaken further within 12 hours.
Across Southeast Asia, over 400 casualties have been reported in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as the wider region experiences some of its worst floods in years.
Survivors in Sri Lanka have described desperate conditions. One resident of Badulla told the News Center website that villagers were sheltering in the only buildings left standing. “There is no food, and we are running out of clean water,” he said.
President Dissanayake has appealed for international aid, saying reconstruction costs are likely to be enormous.
Cyclone Ditwah struck during the monsoon season, but officials say such extreme weather is rare. The last major flooding disaster of a similar scale occurred in 2003, when 254 people were killed.
