The Mandous tropical cyclone that hit severely the Northern and Eastern parts of the country on the 7th and 8th of December 2002, hardly hit the Udakiriruwa tropical rain forest area and the surrounding village located in Lunugala Divisional Secretariat area of the Badulla district. There are 145 families in the village and all the families got affected by the cyclone with different magnitudes. Around 20 houses got severely affected while their cultivation and home gardening were significantly damaged. Almost all the people in the village depend on agriculture and many of them had well-grown home gardening (betelnut, pepper, jackfruit, and so on). As the bad weather has severely damaged their home hardening, their livelihood has also been significantly affected, and presently struggling to get recover from the situation

Team members of the “Conservation of threatened tree species of Udakiruwa tropical rainforest, Sri Lanka through community empowerment and stewardship” project in collaboration with the Foundation of Goodness, 30/32, Longden Place (Malalasekara MW), Colombo-07 have donated dry ration parcels on 24^th December 2022 for all families in this rural village.

Project Team: Prof. Sisira Ediriweera, Prof. Anoma Perera (University of Peradeniya), Prof. Thusitha Kumara, Prof. Ewon Kaliyadasa, Dr Darshani Singhalage and Mr Lasantha Sanjeewa (Research Assistant)