Sri Lanka, Dec. 8 -- Sri Lanka is struggling to recover from the devastating Cyclone Ditwah even as it was trying to rebuild from a debt crisis and political turmoil, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told Newsweek in an exclusive interview as he called for a new approach for debt-burdened countries vulnerable to climate change.

Cyclone Ditwah tore through the Indian Ocean island in late November, leaving well over 600 people dead and 20,000 homeless and causing damage estimated by the president to be in the billions of dollars.

"The damage may well be beyond any natural disaster that our island has endured. So we will have to service debt while simultaneously rebuilding from climate disasters," Dissanayake told Newsweek at the Preside...