UN is assessing the flood damage in Sri Lanka

The United Nations said Tuesday that the recent wave of flooding in Sri Lanka had hit harder on the people who were still trying to recover from the last month's flooding.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sri Lank has reported that the magnitude and impact of a second wave of floods that hit Sri Lanka are worse than those which struck a few weeks ago.

According to the latest situation report from Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Center (DMC) as of 2:00 p.m. Tuesday over 1,182,601 people have been affected by the recent floods including nearly 186,000 displaced persons.

The Center reported 19 deaths and two are missing due to the catastrophic weather that has affected 18 out of 15 districts in North, North Central, East, Central, and Uva provinces.

The UN agencies are supporting the government of Sri Lanka to assess the extent of the damage, and the needs for immediate relief, the UN spokesman to the Secretary-General said today.

The UN says its agencies are already responding with a wide range of supplies, including food and medicine.

"The Sri Lanka Floods Flash Appeal has reached $7.7 million as of today, out of $50 million that had been requested, or about 15 percent," the UN said.

The Flash Appeal will be revised at the end of the month, it added.