The Hon. Eranga Weeraratne - Deputy Minister of Digital Economy

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, thank you for the opportunity to speak during this debate, convened to review and reflect on managing one of the most severe recent national disasters and restoring normalcy as we advance development.

¶ 02 A key feature of this disaster was how, within a very short period, it affected the entire island, not just a few provinces. Landslides, mudslides, and floods had widespread impact. By 28 November, the peak had been reached, and many were displaced. A major challenge for those affected was the collapse of communications. Around 4,500 of the country’s roughly 16,000 telecom towers went offline, and our inter-provincial fibre backbone was severed at 11 points, disrupting inter-provincial connectivity.

¶ 03 In some districts, like Nuwara Eliya, the fibre network has multiple redundant links—four in that case—and on the 28th, all four went down. Nevertheless, telecom companies responded swiftly and effectively. Their teams braved landslide risks, heavy rain, and strong winds, scaled hills, reached towers, carried generators and fibre spools on foot for kilometres, and restored services. By 30 November, tower outages had been reduced from about 4,500 to around 2,600, and fibre cuts from 11 to 5. By 5 December, over 97% of telecom services were restored, and now they stand at 100%.

¶ 04 We also coordinated with Starlink to provide about 25 Starlink connections free to disaster relief teams to support operations. Given many prepaid users could not top up, at our request, all three telecom operators provided free three-day packages for voice, SMS, and data; later, at our further request, they extended this to nine days. We thank the operators for their prompt support.

¶ 05 Looking ahead, the Ministry, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, and operators are examining how to strengthen inter-provincial redundancy and prevent service disruptions in future disasters. Beyond fibre, we are evaluating satellite backup integration. We are also developing “camp-on service” roaming so if one operator is down, subscribers can temporarily use another operator’s network. Additionally, we’re discussing measures to improve tower power resilience—larger generators, solar, batteries, and fuel logistics—so towers stay up during grid outages.

¶ 06 To accelerate needs reporting, we launched a digital “Flood Support System” enabling any person to quickly report issues and request help; linked to the Disaster Management Centre, it has supported over 6,000 cases. Notably, over 500 volunteers contributed to building these digital systems. We also established the Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund to receive contributions from Sri Lankans at home and abroad and foreign donors via donate.gov.lk using cards and GovPay. Over Rs. 4 billion has been received into designated Central Bank and Treasury accounts. Material aid has been made duty-free for faster relief.

¶ 07 We are deeply grateful to the Tri-Forces for transport (boats, helicopters), delivering fuel and accessing difficult telecom sites. Government agencies, private institutions, and the public all contributed significantly. Drawing on these experiences, we are preparing to face future challenges effectively. Thank you.