Sri Lankan actor and musician GK Reginold rides a motorised fishing boat through Colombo's suburbs, hoping to bring food and water to those in desperate need.
Some of the families, Mr. Reginold says, have not received aid for days, isolated by the South Asian island nation's worst weather disaster in recent years.
Cyclone Ditwah lashed the country last week, bringing catastrophic floods and landslides that killed more than 400 people, left hundreds missing, and destroyed 20,000 homes.
But the deluge has also inspired volunteerism among its people, as they face what their president has described as the 'most challenging natural disaster' in its history.
The main reason why I wanted to do this, is to at least help them to have one meal, Mr. Reginold tells the BBC. And I was so happy that I was able to do that.
More than one million people have been affected by the disaster, and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency.
Sri Lanka's military has deployed helicopters for rescue operations, while humanitarian aid is flowing in from foreign governments and non-governmental organizations.
In Colombo's Wijerama neighborhood, activists who protested against former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2022 are now helping run a community kitchen that churns out food aid.
Volunteers have compiled hundreds of requests for help and organized the distribution of food to residents, with more than enough resources being mobilized in response.
With a flurry of online activity supporting these efforts, social media users have created public databases to direct donations and volunteers to where they are most needed, showcasing the power of community in times of crisis.
Despite political challenges and accusations regarding the government's disaster response, the solidarity among Sri Lankans remains strong as they collaborate to pick up the pieces and help their neighbors recover from this catastrophic event.
