The entire Northern Province and six other districts have been hit by a prolonged drought, the worst in recent times, causing an acute water shortage.
“We are taking steps to deploy district level disaster management units to liaise with the local authorities in the affected areas to cope with the shortage,” Disaster Management Ministry Secretary S.S. Miyanawala told the Sunday Times.
He said it would be an enormous task since water resources were not available to cope with an unprecedented drought in many areas.
Besides the Northern Province, the districts affected are Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Ampara, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala and Puttalam.
In the Northern Province, where the water crisis has hit all five districts, the Jaffna district is the worst hit.
More than 120,000 people have been affected.
“The situation has been worsening gradually for months since our country received less rain last year.
Disaster Management Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa visited the North this week to assess the drought crisis in the worst affected areas.
A high level meeting was held at the Kilinochchi District Secretariat yesterday with heads of various departments taking part.
Puttalam District DMC’s Deputy Director W.D.S.Rodrigo said that so far 13 of the 16 divisional secretariat areas were severely affected and people were finding it difficult to get water for drinking or basic sanitation.