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The $4.1b. paradox: Why Sri Lanka’s commendable telecom recovery cannot mask its pre-disaster vulnerabilities | Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka

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Cyclone Ditwah, which struck Sri Lanka in November 2025, was not merely a climate event. It was a national stress test of institutions, infrastructure, coordination, and governance. According to the World Bank’s Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) Report, published in December 2025, the scale of the disaster was estimated to be around US$4.1 billion in total damage, equivalent to four per cent of the nation’s 2024 GDP. Within this shocking figure, damage to essential infrastructure, including power, water, and transport, accounted for an aggregated US$1.735 billion. While the country demonstrated courage, collaboration and dedication in responding to the disaster, the cyclone also revealed a critical vulnerability that deserves urgent national attention on the fragility of emergency telecommunications. The widespread collapse of telecommunication systems during and immediately after the cyclone laid bare deep structural weaknesses in emergency telecommunication prepare

The $4.1b. paradox: Why Sri Lanka’s commendable telecom recovery cannot mask its pre-disaster vulnerabilities | Print Edition - The Sunday Times, Sri Lanka By Eng Nihal Pradeep Kumar Rathnapala, Former Deputy Director General-TRCSL Cyclone Ditwah, which struck Sri Lanka in November 2025, was not merely a climate event. It was a national stress test of institutions, infrastructure, coordination, and governance. According to the World Bank’s Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) Report, published in December 2025, the scale [...] Home Archive Feeds Contact Us Feeds Editorials Time

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