Colombo, July 17 (IANS) Severe dry weather in Sri Lanka has affected over 5.5 lakh people across the South Asian island nation, officials said on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday noon, 567,662 people belonging to 159,123 families were affected by the dry weather and drought. Steps are being taken to provide them with clean water, Xinhua news agency quoted officials of the Disaster Management Center (DMC) as saying.

Officials are continuing to send water tankers to the affected areas to supply the people with fresh water, said Assistant Director of the DMC, Pradeep Kodippili.

--IANS mag/bg