The Power of Community in Post Cyclone Self Mobilisation Efforts

Photo courtesy of  Anneka Atley

For people across South and South East Asia, the convergence of two cyclones and a typhoon over the past few weeks has dominated the news. As the storms and their associated flooding tore through community after community in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, the cost of the disaster has continued to rise exponentially. However, outside the region, it has taken a long time for Western media outlets to begin their reporting. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in Sri Lanka. As Cyclone Ditwah was making landfall in Sri Lanka on November 28, if you read the news outside the country it was almost as if nothing was happening here.

In Sri Lanka, people reported that their families abroad initially had no idea how bad the weather had become and, outside of Sri Lankan diaspora communities, even less would have been known. Six days later, the situation has changed. News outlets such as The Guardian, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and the New York Times are now reporting on the damage caused across the country and the evolving humanitarian situation, as well as questioning the role that anthropogenic climate change has played in causing the floods.

While all this is important, what has been noticeably absent from the international reporting has been recognition of the incredible grassroots initiatives that have formed the backbone of Sri Lanka’s current response efforts. It is now easy to find information on government requests for international aid, the deployment of military personnel and other authorities across the country or President Dissanayake’s description of the event as the “most challenging natural disaster” in recent history. However, without reporting on the way that the people are mobilising to support each other, an incomplete picture is now being painted of who exactly is providing many of the resources that people are relying on in flood affected areas to survive.

In Colombo, community cloud kitchens were established by a range of local organisations almost immediately. Many have been operating non-stop for the past six days, preparing thousands of warm meals and dry ration packs for distribution by both the authorities and private volunteers. The ingredients and labour needed to run these kitchens are provided by members of the community, many of whom are flood affected and resource constrained themselves.

Privately owned fishing boats and other vessels can be seen travelling across the country to support the distribution of aid and rescue operations in submerged villages and the provision of fuel is often funded through community donations as well. Private individuals have hired trucks and filled them with supplies before risking their own safety to make sure people are receiving help in areas where government support is limited.

While the authorities are working around the clock to re-establish access to cut off areas, secure water sources and undertake emergency management activities, their work is being directly supported by local people who started to mobilise as soon as the current crisis began. For example, over 800 community members from the southern city of Matara recently arrived in Badulla with machinery and construction materials to help with reconstruction efforts after the town was decimated by flooding and landslides. This district had been inaccessible for days and the death toll there is incredibly high. Travelling through the hills to Badulla still involves considerable risk but regular people are doing it anyway.

Additionally, while the government is currently being criticised for their lacklustre warning systems and the absence of evacuations before the event, within hours of Cyclone Ditwah reaching Sri Lanka, people had started developing their own ways to connect victims of the flooding with support through social media and the internet. The volunteer managed floodsupport.org was developed by private citizens and went live within two hours on the same day the cyclone made landfall. It quickly became the most up to date way to source information on who needs help across the country and why and became so essential to the current flood relief efforts that it has been connected to the government’s Disaster Management Centre. Ordinary people and NGOs have also rapidly connected via social media. They are using these platforms to identify people needing assistance, recruit volunteers and source vital equipment needed to undertake relief operations.

While there needs to be more reporting outside Asia on disasters like Cyclone Ditwah in general, it is vital that what people read shows the disaster’s reality in full. Rather than solely focusing on the extent of the damage, nameless victims and high level government responses, people in the West need to know how much solidarity is being shown amongst the Sri Lankan community. Without the unrelenting work of local communities and organisations across the country, the impact of this disaster could have been far worse.