Singapore Red Cross sends $50,000 and 5-man volunteer team to aid Sri Lanka’s flood relief efforts

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) has sent humanitarian aid and a volunteer team to Sri Lanka to support its flood relief and recovery operations.

SRC sent $50,000, which will support the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society in delivering immediate relief. This includes the provision of safe drinking water, immediate first aid assistance and non-food items to families displaced by the floods.

The amount will also support the organising of medical camps in flood-affected areas and clean-up initiatives to clear flood water-stacked places and drainages to reduce the risk of dengue.

A team of five was also deployed by SRC to Colombo on June 21 and will remain in the Sri Lankan capital till June 27.

It comprises four volunteers who have undergone the SRC’s overseas disaster deployment training and one SRC staff member. There, they will assess the needs of affected communities, support humanitarian operations, assist in medical camps and distribute non-food items to displaced communities.

Mr Benjamin William, secretary-general and chief executive of SRC, said: “In the aftermath of the floods, Sri Lanka faces the dual challenge of addressing the immediate effects of the floods and the looming threat of a dengue epidemic.”

He noted that the stagnant water from the floods has created breeding grounds for mosquitoes, raising concerns about a potential outbreak in the coming weeks.

“Beyond addressing the most immediate needs, we are focused on supporting dengue awareness initiatives for vulnerable communities, to mitigate the public health risk,” he said.

The volunteer team will work on dengue-prevention activities such as conducting house-to-house surveillance campaigns in selected zones to eliminate mosquito breeding sites.

SRC said it will also work on dengue prevention campaigns in schools and conduct dengue outbreak control training for volunteers to prepare them for any potential dengue outbreak in the communities.

Flooding and drought are cyclical in Sri Lanka, which is battered by a southern monsoon between the months of May and September, while a north-eastern monsoon runs from December to February. Flooding and mass displacement due to torrential rains are common.

In 2024, Sri Lanka has seen heavy rains due to monsoon storms since mid-May, which resulted in floods, wind damage and landslides. Communities in 20 out of 25 districts in the country have been affected, including Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara, Matara, Galle, Ratnapura and Puttalam, said SRC.

There have been 33 reported fatalities. Almost 5,000 people are in evacuation centres, with more than 200,000 people affected. Many homes have suffered severe damage and power supplies have been disrupted. Flood warnings have also been issued for several river basins from different districts as more rains and high winds are expected.

While Sri Lanka depends on the seasonal monsoon rain for irrigation as well as hydroelectricity, experts have warned that it faces more frequent floods as the world heats up due to climate change, reported AFP earlier in June.

In May, a spokesman for Sri Lanka’s disaster management centre said the torrential rain was the worst the country had seen since 2010, Reuters reported.