The first consignment of the relief assistance from India for the tens and thousands of flood affected people of Sri Lanka will arrive on Friday afternoon. Twenty-five tonnes of relief material will include including food, drinking water, sleeping mats, blankets and bed sheets. Besides ready-to-eat meals, the supplies will also include sugar, pulses, milk powder, baby milk formula, salt and other essential seasoning powders and water purifying tablets. Floods caused by heavy rainfall in Sri Lanka have affected over a million people, including more than 127,000 displaced from their homes.Torrential rainfall has lashed the island nation since 26 December, triggering floods and mudslides, mainly in the eastern and central parts of the country, with Batticaloa district in the east reported to have received the largest amount of precipitation in a century.The inclement weather conditions prevailing in the Eastern region on Wednesday forced the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to curtail his visit to the flood affected coastal city of Batticaloa and Ampara.According to Disaster Management Center, over 937,000 people have been affected by the recent torrential rain that affected the entire Eastern Province, North Central, Central and Northern Provinces. Around 48,000 displaced people have been moved to 453 centers set up in all affected districts.The UN Office in Colombo said that it will launch an appeal for emergency funds in the coming week, to meet the needs of communities. ‘We are helping the Government to collect information on needs, which will be compiled into a flash appeal, to rally donors to support and expand ongoing national efforts to respond to important needs in flood-affected areas,’ UN Resident Co-ordinator Neil Buhne said.We share the strong concern over the immediate requirements of over one million affected, especially the most vulnerable including children. He added that UN will also look at the longer term effects from damage to agriculture, infrastructure and housing.The Sri Lankan government today said that current disaster situation is second only to 2004 tsunami. An amount of Rs.138 million is being spent by the government as relief measures, said Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amarawera. The death toll due to the inclement weather has gone up to 23, he added.The Sri Lankan Army , Navy and the Air Force have been pressed into relief operation in the floods-ravaged North Central and Eastern provinces.AIR correspondent reports, as during the Tsunami disaster, India is amongst the first nation to provide humanitarian assistance for the tens and thousands of the flood affected people of Sri Lanka. Indian government is sending twenty-five tonnes of relief material including food, drinking water, sleeping mats, blankets and bed sheets by tomorrow afternoon on a special aircraft to the island nation . Besides ready-to-eat meals, the supplies will also include sugar, pulses, milk powder, baby milk formula, salt and other essential seasoning powders and water purifying tablets. Torrential rainfall has lashed the island nation since last week of December, triggering floods and mudslides, mainly in the eastern and central parts of the country affecting over a million people. The death toll due to the inclement weather has gone up to 23. The Sri Lankan government today said that current disaster situation is second only to 2004 tsunami. The UN office in Colombo said that it will launch a flash appeal to rally donor support for emergency funds to support and expand ongoing national efforts to respond to important needs in flood-affected areas of Sri Lanka.