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Sri Lanka’s children suffer amid climate change-fuelled floods and disease

Turbocharged monsoon floods are intensifying the spread of waterborne diseases in the Indian Ocean island nation

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A Sri Lankan woman carries a child as she wades through a flooded street north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2021. Photo: AP

For a week, seven-year-old Nathushika suffered from diarrhoea, vomiting, and a high fever. Her mother, Easwary, was baffled by her daughter’s sudden illness, as no one else in the household was sick and Nathushika had not eaten any outside food.

At the time, Easwary did not realise that her daughter, like many others in their flood-stricken community, had unknowingly been exposed to a waterborne disease.

It was the monsoon season in the Eastern province of Sri Lanka, where Nathushika and her family lived. In late November, a cyclonic storm developed off the country’s northeastern coast and by mid-December, floods had killed 16 people and displaced close to 50,000 – affecting almost half a million Sri Lankans in total.

Scientists say climate change is driving these increasingly severe storms and erratic monsoons, turning once-predictable weather patterns into disasters that spread waterborne diseases.

When floodwaters rise, diseases follow, viruses and other pathogens spread through contaminated water and food, said Dr Thilanga Ruwanpathirana, a consultant epidemiologist at the Ministry of Health.

Children are [the most vulnerable] group, because they are also playing in floodwater
Dr Thilanga Ruwanpathirana, consultant to Ministry of Health

Pregnant women, the elderly, those with chronic diseases, and children are at the greatest risk during such outbreaks, he added.

Dimuthu Attanayake is an independent journalist and a researcher from Sri Lanka, covering business, tech, social issues, and environment. She was one of the 12 international journalists shortlisted for Thomson Foundation's Young Journalist Award in 2018. Previously, she worked as a big data researcher for LIRNEasia, and has also served as a Business Adviser for an Australian aid programme.
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