Shweta Desai

The relationship between the two countries is decades old and India sees it as strategically important.

For NPR News, I'm Shweta Desai in Mumbai.

In an address to the nation, the Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Desanyake described the weather event as, quote, the largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history.

The United Nations reports that about 100,000 people remain displaced in shelters and low-lying areas remain cut off because of floodwaters.

That has complicated rescue missions conducted by military personnel from Sri Lanka and neighbouring India.

Extreme weather has battered parts of Asia in recent days.

The worst hit has been the archipelago of Indonesia where more than 500 people have died and many more remain missing.

Another 170 people have died in extreme weather events in Thailand.

For NPR News, I'm Shweta Desai.