Focus on disaster mitigation

by Ranil WIJAYAPALA

The National Safety Day celebrations in Jaffna today would deliver a strong message to the people in the North that the Government is always there with them to face any disaster situation, Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.

Minister Amaraweera said the National Safety Day celebrations at Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna would also give the message to the country and the world that the entire country is now under one flag after the liberation of the North and the East from the clutches of terrorism, under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Addressing the media at his Ministry on the National Safety Day celebrations, the Minister said his Ministry will focus on disaster mitigation in the future to avoid unnecessary funding for disaster relief every year.

“We can save huge amounts of public funds if we take precautionary measures to avoid disaster situations rather than spending money for disaster relief”, the Minister said.

“We may have to spend larger amounts of money for such measures, but these disaster mitigation measures will bring long-term benefits to the country”, the Minister said.

He said the Disaster Management Ministry has decided to set up a National Disaster Fund to effectively react to disaster situations and to implement disaster mitigation projects to coincide with this years National Safety Day celebrations.

“Many funding agencies have agreed to make contributions to this fund”, Minister Amaraweera said. He said the Ministry will also take measures to have equipment and machinery such as backhoes and fire fighting vehicles in each district, under the Disaster Management Ministry officers in each district. “This will enable the Disaster Management Ministry to react effectively to disaster situations since most of the equipment used for emergency situations are operating under Local Government bodies”, the Minister explained.