Faces of Ditwah
About the project
November 2025, Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka, killing 643 people and leaving tens of thousands without a home, making it the country's worst natural disaster since the tsunami in 2004.
Despite the scale of the disaster, the aftermath received little international attention.
Faces of Ditwah tells the stories behind the statistics, bringing you closer to the people rebuilding their lives in the months following a natural disaster.
In this web documentary, you explore Sri Lanka through an interactive map.
Dive into any location and scroll through its story at your own pace.
How it works
After clicking 'Start the experience', you will be brought to an interactive map of Sri Lanka.
This is your home base for the entire documentary.
The map is more than just a way to navigate.
It combines the cyclone's timeline, key statistics and news updates with personal stories from across the island.
Each dot on the map represents a different location, with its own people, landscape and story, revealing a different side of the disaster.
Explore them in any order, and return to the map at any time to continue your journey.