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Sri Lanka

JICA sending emergency supplies to flood stricken areas of Sri Lanka

Emergency supplies including sleeping mats, water tanks and water purifying equipment are being sent by JICA to help some of the tens of thousands of victims in flood-stricken parts of Sri Lanka.

The supplies will be airlifted from JICA's permanent warehouse in Singapore as quickly as possible, a Tuesday (June 3) announcement said.

At least 13 persons were killed and more than 100,000 displaced by floods and landslides caused by recent monsoon rains, mostly in the southern part of the country, and more rains were predicted in the coming days.

JICA and rescue and medical teams from the Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) system have been helping in other regional countries which were also struck by natural disasters in recent weeks.

In the wake of Cyclone Nargis which devastated parts of Myanmar, a JDR medical team continues to help some of the hundreds of thousands of survivors there. JICA also dispatched emergency assistance to the region following the cyclone which killed more than 70,000 people.

Separate rescue and medical teams were also sent by Japan to China in the wake of the recent earthquake in the southwest part of that country but those teams have subsequently returned to Japan.