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Defying the eye of storm: A priest steers his community to safety

Published

3 weeks ago

2025/12/17

Father Alex Nilantha, administrator of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral, in the Chilaw Diocese, is seen speaking with people at a shelter camp for flood-affected residents after a rescue operation. (UCAN PHOTO)

(UCAN) Long before dawn broke over Chilaw on Sri Lanka’s western coast, Father Alex Nilantha, the administrator of the town’s Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral, was awakened by the frantic barking of the Church’s dogs.

It was still dark at around 4 a.m. on 28 November, and their persistent scratching at his door cut through the silence with an urgency he couldn’t ignore.

An instinctive sense of danger forced him to look outside — and at the unfolding disaster that would engulf entire villages before sunrise.

The Deduru Oya, a major river in northwest Sri Lanka — the mouth of which empties into the Indian Ocean, near Chilaw, where the Cathedral is located — was already overflowing.

Floodwaters were swallowing streets and rising so fast that rooftops were the only visible markers of where family homes stood.

A small boat, was seen with three villagers struggled against the current on the main road. Without hesitation, Father Nilantha arranged a boat and set forth through the rising waters.

From house to house, through submerged lanes and swirling debris, he and a small team ferried terrified families to safety.

Mothers clutched infants; children cried out from shadowed doorways; the young begged for help for sick relatives.

Clothes floated ,where people once stood, in water more than a meter high in places.

“From six in the morning until six in the evening, we didn’t stop,” Nilantha said. By nightfall, the Cathedral compound had become a refuge for nearly 800 displaced people — Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim alike.

Within hours, people from all religious communities began arriving with truckloads of cooked meals and supplies. “It was solidarity at its purest,” Nalintha said.

Community leaders assured him that they would “not let anyone go hungry,” as if to answer his fears about feeding such a crowd.

“We admire this priest, who stood with us throughout the crisis, looked after us from 29 November to 05 December, and ensured that everyone received food,” said Antony Sebastian, 53, who Nalintha rescued along with his family.

Despite visible signs of exhaustion, Nalintha “went from house to house in a boat, and greeted all with a warm smile and offered them help,” Sebastian said.

As well as caring for those at the Cathedral, Nalintha also took food to shelters in two other parishes, two schools, and coordinated five medical clinics.

Across Sri Lanka, the devastation left by the flooding was staggering — 639 people confirmed dead with 210 missing, entire villages washed away, livelihoods destroyed, and roads and farmlands buried under mud.

As state agencies struggled to cope with the catastrophe, the Catholic Church mobilised one of the country’s largest community-based relief networks.

Torrential rain and strong winds brought by Cyclone Ditwah overwhelmed rivers, triggering widespread flooding and landslides across the island.

Churches across the country set up emergency shelters. Parishes prepared meals, arranged medical care, organised volunteers to clean homes, assisted pregnant women and children, distributed dry rations, and provided tools for basic repairs.

Caritas Sri Lanka, the Church’s social arm, moved quickly with immediate relief efforts — some 1.3 million Sri Lankan rupees (some US$4,200) in cash grants and three million dry ration packets.

Father Luke Nelson Perera, Caritas Sri Lanka’s national director, said subsequent phases will include supplying school uniforms, construction materials, cooking utensils, essential medicines, milk powder, and psychosocial support.

Across many dioceses, the scale of the relief efforts was immense, with more than 100,950 people housed in 70 Church-run temporary shelters.

People lived in these temporary shelters for three to seven days until the waters receded and they could return home earlier this month.

Catholic schools, convents, and institutions provided food, clothing, and medicine. Parish priests visited affected families; some organised mobile medical clinics for hundreds at a time.

Among the stories Nilantha related was that of a man who fought through chest-high water in search of help. His wife and children were later found balancing on a beam inside their flooded home — a family saved because someone kept rowing.

“I may not be very strong,” the priest said, “but God is with me. He works through thousands of hands to support the victims.”

On that fateful morning, Nilantha’s hands were among the first to help. But they were soon joined by thousands more — an entire nation answering the call of its most vulnerable as the waters rose.

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A Policy is being formulated to ensure Child Protection in the use of Technology — Prime Minister

Published

1 hour ago

2026/01/9

Priyan

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that a policy is currently being formulated to ensure child protection in the use of technology.

The Prime Minister made this statement on Thursday (08) in Kandy while briefing the Most Venerable Mahanayake Theros of the Asgiriya and Malwathu Chapters on the issue that has arisen regarding the Grade 6 English module. Thereafter, printed copies of all modules were presented to the Mahanayake Theros.

Earlier on Thursday (08), the Prime Minister visited the Malwathu Viharaya in Kandy and met the Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Nayaka Thero, the Mahanayake of the Malwathu Chapter, where she explained the error that had occurred in the first print run of the English module for Grade 6 .

The Mahanayake Theros emphasized that education is a sensitive subject and that such matters should be handled with greater sensitivity and proper oversight. They further advised that a formal investigation should be conducted and that education reforms should be carried forward in a systematic manner.

Subsequently, the Prime Minister visited the Asgiriya Maha Viharaya and met the Most Venerable Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Mahanayaka Thero of the Asgiriya Chapter, where she clarified the error related to the English module.

The Mahanayake Thero noted that education reforms are a timely necessity and should be implemented with due oversight and careful review and also pointed out that there are broader issues in Sri Lanka regarding the use of technology, which are evident in the manner in which modern tools such as AI technologies are being used on social media.

Clarifying the issue Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further stated,

“We have appointed a committee to look into this issue, and based on the recommendations of the National Institute of Education (NIE), steps were taken to remove the relevant lesson. In addition, all printed copies of the relevant module have been stamped, and no module has been distributed to schoolchildren. A formal investigation into this matter has been initiated by the Ministry, and a complaint has also been lodged with the Criminal Investigation Department.

At the same time, we are in the process of formulating a policy on child protection in the use of technology”.

Thereafter, addressing the media and responding to the’ questions raised by journalists, the Prime Minister stated:

“The Opposition is attempting to use this national task for their own political advantage. However, many in society have expressed their views on the issues that have arisen in a positive manner, with the objective of identifying and correcting mistakes. The government has decided to move forward with education reforms by recognizing the error that have occurred and rectifying them. We will take the no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition as an opportunity to further advance dialogue on education reforms”

The occasion was graced by the Most Venerable Anunayaka Thero of the Asgiriya Chapter, Venerable Narampanawe Ananda Nayaka Thero; Deputy Registrar of the Asgiriya Chapter, Venerable Muruddeniye Dhammarakkhita Thero; Deputy Registrar of the Malwathu Chapter, Venerable Mahawela Rathanapala Thero; Members of Parliament Thushari Jayasinghe and Thanura Dissanayake; Mayor of Kandy Chandrasiri Wijenayake; Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa; and Secretary to the Ceylon Teachers’ Union in Central Province D. D. Wimalaweera.

[Prime Minister’s Media Division]

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The deep depression to the South-east of Sri Lanka is likely to intensify in to a cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours

Published

1 hour ago

2026/01/9

Priyan

Deep depression Track. (Source: RSMC)

A RED warning for a deep depression to the South-east of Sri Lanka has been issued at 01.00 a.m. on 09 January 2026 for the period until 01.00 a.m. 10 January 2026 by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre, of the Department of Meteorology.

The deep depression in the Bay of Bengal to the southeast of Sri Lanka (At 01:00 a.m. on Jan 9th, 2026 located about 200 km East of Pottuvil) is very likely to intensify further and move west-northwestwards towards the coast of Sri Lanka between Pottuvil and Trincomalee in the evening today (9th January 2026.) The system is likely to intensify in to a cyclonic storm
during the next 24 hours.

Hence, showery, and windy condition over the island, particularly in the Northern, North-Central, Eastern, Uva and Central provinces is expected to enhance.

News

Easter Sunday carnage: SJB asks Church to seek arrest warrant for suicide bomber’s wife, Sara

Published

3 hours ago

2026/01/9

Thilina Walpola

… asks who called for third DNA test

Top SJB spokesman Mujibur Rahuman, MP, wants the Catholic Church to exert pressure on the NPP government to have an arrest warrant issued for Pulasthini Mahendran aka Sara Jasmine, wife of Katuwapitiya suicide bomber Atchchi Muhammadu Hastun.

Colombo District lawmaker yesterday (8) told The Island that the Catholic Church should throw its weight behind the SJB’s call for an open warrant and pressure the government to ask for Interpol assistance to track down the fugitive.

She would be able to throw light on the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage, the former UNPer said, urging the Catholic Church to make its position known without delay.

Alleging that Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala had been evasive in his response to a query posed to him in parliament on Wednesday regarding Easter Sunday attacks, lawmaker Rahuman asked whether the NPP was trying to cover up something.

Against the backdrop of the NPP’s declaration that Sara Jasmine is alive, the government should inquire into the circumstances the Government Analyst Department in late Sept 2023 announced that she was among those who perished in multiple blasts at Sainthamaruthu on April 26, 2019.

The Police Headquarters made the announcement on behalf of the Government Analyst’s Department that reached the conclusion after carrying out DNA tests for the third time on the tissue samples that had been obtained for the investigations by Judicial Medical Officers, Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Department, and the Government Analyst’s Department.

After the change of government following the last presidential election the NPP initiated an inquiry to verify the third DNA test. MP Rahuman pointed out that the third DNA test had been quite controversial as the two previous proved that she was not among the dead at Sainthamaruthu, where the group including some family members gathered.

The CID inquiring into the third DNA test last month recorded statements from C.D. Wickremeratne who had been the IGP at that time as well as DIG CID, Prasad Ranasinghe regarding the issues at hand. Wickremaratne has said that the third test was ordered in the wake of the concerns expressed at the National Security Council (NSC) regarding Sara Jasmine’s status.

MP Rahuman stressed that right along he believed Sara Jasmine was alive and had taken refuge in India.

MP Rahuman quoted terror mastermind Zahran Hashim’s wife, Abdul Cader Fatima Hadiya, as having told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (P CoI) into the Easter Sunday blasts, that she heard Jasmine’s voice, after the blasts. Those killed at Sainthamaruthu, a week later, included Zahran Hashim’s father Mohamed Hashim and his brothers Zainee and Rilwan. Rilwan is believed to have been one of those who detonated bombs. Fatima and her child survived the Sainthamaruthu blasts and remain in government custody.

Lawmaker Rahuman said that the Catholic Church’s intervention is essential to compel President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to go the whole hog. “We cannot forget that the father of two of the suicide bombers was on the JVP National List at the 2015 parliamentary election and that wife of one of the bombers blasted herself at their Dematagoda home.”

By Shamindra Ferdinando ✍️