A Disaster That Deepened Inequality: How Cyclone Ditwah Exposed Protection Gaps in Sri Lanka’s Humanitarian Response

Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka in December 2025 with destructive force, bringing intense rainfall, riverine flooding, and landslides across large parts of the country. According to the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) Sri Lanka, more than 1.47 million people were affected across 12 districts, with over 310,000 people temporarily displaced into evacuation centers or informal hosting arrangements. Districts such as Badulla, Monaragala, Ratnapura, Kegalle, and parts of the Uva and Sabaragamuwa Provinces experienced the most severe impacts (DMC, December 2025).

While Cyclone Ditwah was widely described as a natural disaster, its impacts were far from evenly distributed. Evidence from the Joint Rapid Needs Assessment (JRNA), December 2025, makes clear that the cyclone did not create vulnerability so much as intensify pre-existing inequalities rooted in gender, age, disability, and socio-economic status. For many households, particularly those already living close to the poverty line, the shock translated into heightened protection risks, loss of dignity, and exclusion from recovery opportunities.

This article critically examines how Cyclone Ditwah disproportionately affected women, children, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and women-headed households. Drawing on official assessments and protection analyses, it demonstrates why inclusive, protection-centered humanitarian assistance is not optional but essential to prevent long-term social harm and deepen resilience.

 Disaggregating the Impact: What the Data Reveals

Aggregate impact figures obscure stark disparities. The JRNA (December 2025) provides disaggregated data that reveals uneven exposure to risk and unequal access to assistance. Women and children constituted approximately 56 percent of the affected population, while persons over 60 years of age accounted for 14 percent of those displaced. Importantly, 9 percent of affected households included at least one person with a disability, a proportion that increased to 13 percent among households residing in evacuation centers.

Gender-disaggregated data shows that female-headed households represented 23 percent of affected households, yet they accounted for 31 percent of households reporting severe unmet needs, including food insecurity, shelter inadequacy, and lack of access to healthcare (JRNA, December 2025). Children were disproportionately impacted by service disruptions, with 38 percent of affected children experiencing interruptions to schooling due to damaged infrastructure or displacement, according to UNICEF findings cited in the JRNA.

Elderly persons and persons with disabilities reported significantly lower access to information, early warning messages, and relief services. The assessment found that nearly 45 percent of persons with disabilities faced difficulties accessing distribution points due to physical barriers, lack of transport, or absence of assistance. These figures underscore that vulnerability during Cyclone Ditwah was not incidental but structured by systemic exclusion.

Women-Headed Households and the Invisible Care Burden

Women-headed households experienced a convergence of economic and social pressures following the cyclone. According to the JRNA (December 2025), 68 percent of women-headed households reported complete or partial loss of their primary income source, compared to 49 percent of male-headed households. This disparity reflects women’s higher reliance on informal employment, small-scale agriculture, and home-based livelihoods, all of which were severely disrupted by flooding.

Beyond income loss, women absorbed a significant increase in unpaid care and domestic work. Damage to water sources, health facilities, and schools meant women spent additional hours collecting water, caring for sick family members, and supervising children who were no longer attending school. UN Women analysis cited in the JRNA highlights that women in affected districts reported an average 3.2 additional hours per day of unpaid care work following displacement.

Barriers to accessing assistance further compounded these burdens. Women-headed households reported challenges related to lack of documentation, limited mobility, and safety concerns at distribution sites. In some cases, relief registration processes assumed male household heads, resulting in delayed or missed assistance. These structural barriers, rather than individual capacity, explain why women-headed households consistently appeared among those with the highest unmet needs.

Protection Risks During Displacement and Early Recovery

Displacement following Cyclone Ditwah created environments where protection risks intensified. The Protection Cluster findings referenced in the JRNA (December 2025) indicate that over 60 percent of evacuation centers did not meet minimum standards for privacy, lighting, or gender-segregated sanitation facilities. Such conditions significantly elevated risks of gender-based violence (GBV), harassment, and exploitation.

Reports from UN Women and UNICEF partners highlighted increased concerns around intimate partner violence, early marriage risks, and child labor, particularly in districts where displacement extended beyond two weeks. While comprehensive GBV incident data remains limited due to underreporting, service providers documented a 28 percent increase in GBV-related referrals in cyclone-affected districts compared to pre-disaster levels (Protection Cluster, December 2025).

Children faced distinct protection challenges. Overcrowded shelters and economic stress contributed to heightened risks of neglect and psychosocial distress. UNICEF estimates cited in the JRNA indicate that one in four displaced children exhibited signs of acute stress, while access to child-friendly spaces was available in fewer than 40 percent of evacuation centers. These findings reinforce the need for protection to be treated as a core humanitarian priority rather than a secondary concern.

5. Persons with Disabilities and the Elderly: Overlooked in Recovery

For persons with disabilities and elderly individuals, Cyclone Ditwah magnified existing accessibility and inclusion gaps. The JRNA (December 2025) found that 52 percent of evacuation centers lacked ramps, handrails, or accessible latrines, effectively excluding persons with mobility impairments from basic services. Many reported the loss of assistive devices such as wheelchairs, hearing aids, and walking sticks, with limited mechanisms in place for replacement.

Elderly persons faced heightened health and protection risks. Disruption to routine medical care, combined with limited mobility and social isolation, increased dependency and vulnerability. According to assessment findings, 37 percent of elderly respondents reported missing at least one scheduled medical appointment due to transport disruptions or inaccessible facilities.

Social support networks, which are critical coping mechanisms for both elderly persons and persons with disabilities, were fractured by displacement. Without targeted outreach and inclusive programming, these groups risk being systematically excluded from early recovery interventions, prolonging dependency and undermining dignity.

6. Gaps in the Humanitarian Response

Despite rapid mobilization, the humanitarian response exhibited notable gaps in inclusion and protection mainstreaming. The JRNA (December 2025) highlights that assistance was largely delivered at the household level, often without sufficient consideration of intra-household dynamics or individual vulnerabilities. This approach limited the effectiveness of targeting for women, children, and persons with specific needs.

Gender and protection analyses were not consistently translated into program design. Less than 35 percent of assessed response activities included explicit protection risk mitigation measures, such as safe distribution planning or referral pathways. Feedback and accountability mechanisms were also weak; only 29 percent of affected households reported knowing how to raise complaints or provide feedback on assistance (JRNA, December 2025).

These gaps do not reflect a lack of awareness but rather structural underinvestment in protection capacity and coordination. Addressing them requires intentional shifts in both funding and operational practice.

What Inclusive Humanitarian Programming Must Look Like

Evidence from Cyclone Ditwah points to clear principles for inclusive humanitarian action. Gender-responsive cash assistance, designed with flexible delivery mechanisms and complemented by childcare and safety measures, can reduce economic stress while supporting dignity. The World Bank / GFDRR GRADE assessment emphasizes that inclusive cash programming enhances recovery outcomes when combined with social protection linkages.

Protection-integrated service delivery is equally critical. This includes embedding GBV risk mitigation across sectors, expanding child-friendly spaces, and ensuring disability-inclusive shelter and WASH design. Community-based targeting approaches, involving women’s groups, organizations of persons with disabilities, and elderly representatives, can improve accuracy and accountability.

Finally, strengthening Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) is essential. Transparent information sharing, accessible feedback channels, and meaningful participation are not procedural add-ons but core elements of effective humanitarian response.

Funding Priorities to Ensure No One Is Left Behind

Protection and gender outcomes require dedicated, predictable funding. The JRNA (December 2025) estimates that protection-related needs accounted for less than 12 percent of total humanitarian funding requests, despite evidence of widespread risks. Underfunding GBV prevention, child protection, and disability inclusion has tangible costs, including increased health expenditures, lost productivity, and long-term social harm.

Priority investment areas include:

• GBV risk mitigation and survivor services
• Child protection and psychosocial support
• Disability-inclusive infrastructure and services
• Women’s economic recovery and livelihood support

The World Bank GRADE analysis underscores that early investment in inclusive recovery reduces future fiscal burdens by preventing chronic poverty and dependency. Donors have both a moral and economic incentive to act.

From Rhetoric to Responsibility

Cyclone Ditwah has laid bare the ways in which disasters intersect with inequality. Women, children, elderly persons, persons with disabilities, and women-headed households were not simply affected more—they were systematically disadvantaged by pre-existing structural barriers. Evidence from the Joint Rapid Needs Assessment, World Bank GRADE estimates, DMC data, and UN protection analyses leaves little doubt that exclusion, not hazard exposure alone, drove disproportionate harm.

Moving forward, humanitarian actors must translate commitments to inclusion into concrete action. Protection-centered, gender-responsive programming is not an optional layer but a prerequisite for effective humanitarian assistance. For donors, UN agencies, and implementing partners, the imperative is clear: ensure that recovery from Cyclone Ditwah does not reinforce inequality, but instead lays the foundation for a more inclusive and resilient Sri Lanka.