Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Friday made a global appeal for help after flash floods and landslides claimed over 90 lives in the country.

As search for those missing continued, 110 people were reported missing and over 53,000 displaced after hours of severe rain and strong winds inundated towns and villages. The Education Ministry ordered schools to be shut due to the prevailing weather conditions.

Evacuations have also begun in the outskirts of the capital as a flood warning has been issued due to the rising waters in three major rivers.

The Foreign Ministry in a statement said Sri Lanka made an appeal to the UN, the International Search and Rescue Advi­sory Group (INSARAG) and neighboring countries to provide assistance for the affectedpeople, especially in the areas where search and rescue operations were ongoing.

India was one of the first countries to respond by dispatching two ships with relief supplies.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it has activated the Emergency Response Unit of the Ministry to coordinate rescue and relief measures related to the flood situation in several parts of Sri Lanka.

According to the Sri Lanka Red Cross which deployed its relief workers to areas of the disaster, at least 500,000 people were affected by the severe rains.

The Ministry of Home Affairs opened a 24 hour hotline for the public to share and obtain information on the emergency situation while the Meteorology Department warned of more rains in the next 24 hours.

Agencies adds: The highest number of fatalities were from Ratna­pura, the country’s gem hub, where the Kalu river burst its banks and inundated the main town which is about 100 kilometres east of Colombo.

Nearly 500 homes were either damaged or destroyed due to flooding as well as landslides, DMC director of operations, Rear Admiral A. A. P. Liyanage said.

Most of the deaths were due to mountain sides collapsing on homes, he said.

The met department said the worst of the rains may be over, but there could be downstream flooding in the next few days.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2017