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Gunasekera WB report estimates damage at US$4.1bn
View(s):Cyclone Ditwah, which swept through Sri Lanka in November triggering landslides and floods, caused the most damage to infrastructure, with a World Bank report estimating the damage at US$1.7 billion out of a total of US$4.1 billion.
A Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) report has provided a synopsis of the estimated direct physical damage in Sri Lanka due to the cyclone.
The report is based on a rapid and remote post-disaster damage assessment which follows the established 3 GRADE methodology (World Bank, 2018a) and was prepared within a short timeframe to inform early decision-making, the World Bank said.
According to the report, the total damage is estimated at US$4.1 billion, equivalent to approximately 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s 2024 gross domestic product (GDP).
Kandy was identified as the worst hit district in terms of estimated damage (US$689 million). Residential building damage, including content, accounted for US$985 million, or 24 percent of the total estimated damage.
The report said that non-residential buildings and content damage accounted for a total of US$562 million. Much of the damage was spread across education, health, commercial, and large industrial facilities and factories.
Infrastructure damage was estimated at US$1.735 billion, accounting for approximately 42 percent of the total damage in Sri Lanka, with substantial damage to transport, water, and energy systems. Roads, bridges, railways, and water infrastructure suffered significant damage.
Agricultural damage was estimated at US$814 million, or nearly 20 percent of the total estimated damage, with notable damage to rice paddies, vegetable crops, subsistence farming, maize, livestock, and agricultural infrastructure as well as some damage to inland fisheries. This report was prepared by a team led by Rashmin Gunasekera (World Bank’s Disaster Climate Risk Management, IDURM and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, GFDRR).
The team comprised James Daniell, Harriette Stone, Bramka Jano, Aaron Opdyke, Johannes Brand, Roberth Romero, Annika Maier, Andreas Schaefer, Bastian van den Bout, Judith Claassen, Mikhail Sirenko and Kerri Cox of the GFDRR’s Global Program for Disaster Risk Analytics and the World Bank’s Disaster Resilience Analytics and Solutions (D-RAS) team.
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