The Role of Disaster Communication in Cyclone Ditwah, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Over a million people were affected by the massive flooding, landslides, infrastructure collapse, and humanitarian disaster caused by Cyclone Ditwah, which hit Sri Lanka in late November 2025. This article looks at how well disaster communication systems performed during Ditwah, highlights significant shortcomings, particularly in terms of timely notifications and linguistic inclusivity, and analyzes how these shortcomings affected the catastrophe's scope. Recommendations for improving disaster communication systems to better serve all communities are included in the article's conclusion.