Ottawa’s Sri Lankan community rallies following deadly cyclone

Ottawa’s Sri Lankan community is rallying together after a catastrophic storm landed upon the island. CTV’s Katie Griffin reports.

After a cyclone caused catastrophic, deadly flooding in Sri Lanka and other countries in Asia, Ottawa’s Sri Lankan community is rallying to help.

“This is extremely hard, especially for that small, beautiful island that shouldn’t deserve this kind of thing,” said Ranjan Thanabalasingam, owner of Ceylonta, a Sri Lankan restaurant on Somerset Street West.

Communication with family and friends in Sri Lanka has been spotty, he said, adding some don’t have clean water.

“There’s no electricity and flooding. They can’t get out of the house and there’ll be no food,” Thanabalasingam said.

Two powerful storms, Cyclone Ditwah and Cyclone Senyar, claimed the lives of more than 1,300 people across Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand last week.

“They need sanitation, they need water, they need medical supplies, that type of stuff,” said Naradha Kodituwakku.

The Sri Lanka Canada Association, community temples, representatives from the Tamil community and others have launched a fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $50,000.

“Sri Lanka needs help right now, right? And I think any support that we can give as a community is greatly appreciated,” he said.

Global Affairs Canada says it is providing consular assistance to Canadians affected as well as their families.

Canadians in need of emergency consular assistance should contact Global Affairs Canada’s 24/7 Emergency Watch and Response Centre in Ottawa by calling [phone], or 1-800-387-3124 (toll-free from the U.S. and Canada), by text message at [phone], via WhatsApp at [phone], via Signal at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail].

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App