12 districts in Sri Lanka facing drinking water shortage

COLOMBO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Twelve districts in Sri Lanka are facing a drinking water shortage due to droughts, the country's Disaster Management Center (DMC) said on Monday.

DMC Director General Sudantha Ranasinghe said about 156,000 people from over 48,000 households have been affected by the drought.

The DMC has taken steps to provide drinking water to these households, he said.

According to the DMC, droughts in the South Asian island country usually occur due to the delay of monsoon onset or the temporal variability of rainfall.