Sri Lanka Multi-Dimensional Crisis Situation Report No. 1 (As of 15 July 2022)

This report is produced by the OCHA Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP) on behalf of the ISCG. The updates below cover activities carried out between 9 June and 15 July 2022 and provide an overview of response activities to meet the needs articulated in the Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) Plan.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Sri Lanka is facing a multidimensional crisis compounded by food insecurity, threatened livelihoods, shortages of vital and essential medicines, and rising protection concerns. The economic crisis is the worst since the country’s independence in 1948.
• It is estimated that 5.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, of whom 1.7 million are prioritized through the Humanitarian Needs and Priorities (HNP) Plan launched on 9 June 2022.
• The HNP Plan calls for US$47.2 million to implement responses to lifesaving priorities between June and September 2022, with a particular emphasis on averting a further deterioration of needs and thus prevent a full-scale humanitarian crisis.
• The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has approved a US$5-million rapid response allocation to address urgent needs on food assistance, basic agricultural and livelihoods support, vital and essential medicines and supplies, child protection, nutrition, safe water and education in priority districts.
• Fuel shortages in Sri Lanka are a major operational constraint for the humanitarian response, as they affect effective programme implementation and monitoring.

KEY FIGURES

5.7M
People in Need
1.7M
People Targeted
57.4K
People Reached
(as of 20 July 2022)
3.4% % Reached

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The reduction in agricultural production in Sri Lanka, compounded by the rising prices of fuel and basic food items, have made food unaffordable for a significant segment of the population, and the government has forecast food shortages over the next months. Hospitals report shortages of essential medicines and other health items, while frequent power outages are affecting the delivery of health services. Negative coping mechanisms are threatening the loss of livelihoods, and an observed rise in violence is raising serious protection concerns. An alarming increase in high-risk child protection incidents such as sexual assault, physical abuse, and child negligence have been reported in at least four districts, namely: Moneragala, Nuwara Eliya, Batticoloa and Mullaitivu. Authorities project that child protection cases will increase in the coming months if the current crisis persists.

The ban on the importation of chemical fertilizers in April 2021 (subsequently lifted in November) caused a significant reduction in agricultural yield by 40-50 per cent in the Maha Season1 2021/2022. The unavailability or high prices of agricultural inputs as well as high fuel prices have demotivated farmers to cultivate lands. Only 24 per cent (128,652 out of 524,778) of the usual cultivation plots have been prepared for the 2022 Yala Season. The Maha and Yala seasons usually produce enough supply for 15 months of the Sri Lanka’s requirements. With the significantly low agricultural production unable to cover domestic requirements, imported staples like wheat flour, canned fish, milk powder and lentils are either unavailable or exorbitantly priced.

About 73 per cent of households reported either losing their source of income or having their income reduced, which is 11 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively. As of June, food inflation has gone up to 80 per cent. With less money and high prices for essential food commodities, families’ purchasing power has been reduced greatly. As a result, they have resorted to consuming less diversified and nutritious diets. Households are eating less preferred or less expensive foods and limiting portion sizes per meal. About 70 per cent of households have reduced overall food consumption to cope. Families are also reportedly using other negative coping mechanisms to get by, such as: 1) selling of belongings; 2) borrowing money; 3) withdrawing from savings, and 4) pawning of belongings.

About 80 per cent of medical supplies in Sri Lanka are imported. Currently, there are 2,724 vital and essential surgical consumables that are out of stock. There are 250 regular laboratory items and 600 complimentary items out of stock at national level. The immediate gaps are unlikely to be bridged until the end of July, and the system faces stockouts of essential medicines and supplies, both in the public and private sectors. Overall, the price of drugs has increased by 30 per cent around the country. At least 56,000 children under 5 with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) are currently in need of ready to eat therapeutic food (RUTF, BP –100). Pending results of ongoing nutritional surveys, malnutrition is likely to have worsened and been exacerbated by the suspension of the national nutrition programme since November 2021.

The current crisis has also resulted in an acute shortage of water treatment and testing chemicals and has negatively affected water treatment services. The power cuts have reduced the number of water-pumping hours and compromised operations and maintenance. About 84 per cent of people in the country have safe drinking water coverage. However, about 66.8 per cent of households in the estate sector do not have access to safe drinking water sources.

Children are being affected by a loss of learning and increasing school dropouts. Schools have been closed, fuel shortage is limiting students and teachers’ ability to go to school, and teaching-learning materials are not available for children to cope with new off-school and offline learning arrangements.

Civil unrest continues to take place amidst political uncertainty in Sri Lanka’s Government thousands of protestors took to the streets of Colombo during 9-13 July. The president reportedly left the country in the early hours of 13 July. The prime minister, in his capacity as an acting president, has declared a state of emergency. The political situation is likely to impede humanitarian operations in the country as many agencies are partnering with government counterparts which are currently not fully functional. There are concerns the resource mobilization to address the humanitarian consequences of the crisis will also be challenging until some level of political stability is reached.