Disaster Management, a national priority

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA

Disasters can occur at any unexpected moment, anywhere in the world.

Like the way the sea waves that originated thousands of miles away from our shores made disastrous consequences to Sri Lanka during the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, any form of disaster can strike the country at any moment. It was with the intention of improving Sri Lanka’s capability and capacity to face such disasters and mitigate the damages the Ministry of Disaster Management was formed in the year 2005.

The Ministry which was formed in 2005 had its own building this year, after President Mahinda Rajapaksa opened the new Ministry building on April 2.

The Sunday Observer met Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera to get a clear view about the country’s preparedness to face any disaster situation in the country.

Minister Amaraweera, very clearly sets out his Ministry’s goals and the way they intend achieving it through the projects they have already launched and through the projects that are in the pipeline. Following is the excerpts of the interview the Sunday Observer had with Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera.

Q: We used to talk much about disasters when the country is faced with natural and other disasters. But what should actually happen is we should prepare to face disasters that the country may come across when we are not faced with disaster situations. As the Minister in charge of the Disaster Management Ministry what have you done in this regard?

A: From the date I assumed duties as the Disaster Management Minister, I was of the opinion that the scope of the Ministry should not be confined just to distribute relief items when people get affected from disasters.

I was of the opinion that we must be proactive in our approach to disaster situations rather being reactive in our approach to such situations. We must work hard when there are no major disaster situations in the country and we have followed that policy during the past few months also. We have appointed our officials at district level and they have been instructed to form disaster management committees in each and every village level.

That is because the government alone cannot handle the situations that may arise from the disaster situations. We have to take the support of the volunteer organisations also. Therefore, we are continuing with our activities at district level to effectively face such situations.

Q: The entire country was in a state of panic on Wednesday, April 11, when the coastal belt was alerted about a possible tsunami after an earthquake erupted in Indonesia. What are the lessons we could learn from that incident?

A: It is fortunate that the country was not struck by a tsunami on that day but we are relieved that the tsunami warning system and the evacuation of people from coastal areas were 98 percent successful. Even if there was one we could have averted possible loss of human lives on that day. If we had the same system in 2004 we could have saved 40,000 lives who perished on that day.

The community organisations and volunteers trained at district level for evacuation of people acted quickly on that day. The mechanism which was put into operation was 98 percent successful barring a few lapses due to panic among the public.

I was also made to understand that some Early Warning towers have not functioned properly on that day. I have already called for a report.

The major problem was the huge traffic jam in several urban areas, which impeded evacuation of people from the coastal belt. As a solution we hope to train youth to control traffic in the urban areas at a time of emergency.

Q: After the major flood situation that was reported during the first half of the year 2011 we did not come across major disaster situations in the country. But there were isolated incidents like tornadoes in some parts of the country. What are the steps the Disaster Management Ministry could take to mitigate the effects of such situations?

A: Actually we faced a major flood situation in the country in the first half of the year 2011. After that also we came across some incidents.But with regard to incidents like tornadoes, the Meteorological Department was not in a strong position to give forecasts about tornadoes. Such stormy weather conditions were reported recently in Vavuniya and also some other parts of the country. The true position is that the Met Department is not in a position to give weather forecast on such situations. We have to be honest about that situation and accept the reality. That is why we have taken steps to improve our weather forecasting capacity with the assistance of international assistance.

Even on Friday we received the weather radars under KOICA assistance. Apart from that, we are also in the process of establishing Doppler weather radars in Gongala area. We are also taking steps to modernise the entire Met Department in every aspect. Cabinet approval has already been granted for this and the External Resources Department is now in the process of finding required financial assistance for this project. We cannot put a complete stop to these incidents and avoid them but we believe that we can go for a realistic program to be in the safer side after getting early warnings about such situations.

Q: When will this project be implemented? Will it take a longer period or will it be implemented soon?

A: We expect to implement these projects as soon as possible and many teams have already arrived in the country to consider their assistance for this project. We are going to implement this as a program under foreign assistance as this project will cost more than Rs.1 billion.

We are having discussions with these donor agencies and we hope that we will be able to implement this project very soon.

Q: Disaster preparedness and disaster mitigation are also two key areas that had to be focused when managing disasters. What are the steps the Ministry of Disaster Management has taken with regard to disaster mitigation?

A: As I said earlier also, when I assumed duties as the Minister, I said that our Ministry should not become an institute to distribute lunch packets to disaster affected people.

If we work with dedication and commitment to implement disaster mitigation program, there won’t be any work left for us to do after another three or four year’s time.

That is the goal we are trying to achieve. That is why we carried out a number of disaster mitigation projects.

We have started flood mitigation projects. Now, we can assure that there won’t be any major flood situation in Dambulla area by next year. We are implementing a major flood control projects in Dambulla now and it is expected to be completed by the end of this year creating Dambulla a safer city.

In Panadura and Jaffna areas also we are implementing a flood control programs and those projects are also expected to be completed within the next two years period.

In Colombo a very successful flood control program is going on by creating retention ponds and clearing all the canals. During the past few months we have been able to control flash flood situations in Colombo.

In this year a project costing Rs.8 billion is to be carried out to control floods in Colombo. The project will be implemented by the Land Reclamation and Development Corporation under the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development.

With the implementation of this project the Colombo city will also not be affected by floods in the future. In Gampaha area also we are implementing a flood control program.

In addition to flood control projects we are also going to implement landslide mitigation projects as a large number of deaths are reported due to landslides during rainy weather seasons.

Q: Educating the people about creating buildings and houses in disaster prone areas and creating disaster proof structures, houses and other buildings is also a measure that can mitigate the damages from disasters. What are the measures, the Ministry has taken in this regard?

A: We have already taken cabinet approval and announced to educate the general public how to build houses and other building in disaster prone areas.

The National Building Research Organisation that comes under our Ministry is taking steps with regard to this and they have the specified technology about it. We are not allowing having any structure in the disaster prone areas without the approval from the Building Research Organisation.

Q: Has this process been legalised by your Ministry?

A: Not only have we legalised this process, but we have also informed the respective Local Government authorities that if those local government bodies gave approval to construct any house or building without the authorisation of the Building Research Organisation, the Head of that Local Government body should privately take the responsibility, if any damages caused to the area is due to that construction.

Therefore, our district level committees are closely working with those local government bodies. Privately the Ministry legalised this process.

Besides this, many of these structures are built in government reservations. Though we could not legalise it, we have informed the Government officers in the respective areas not to allow such constructions in government reservations in disaster prone areas.

Q: Is there any program to provide any financial assistance for the people to shift from disaster prone areas and have disaster proof constructions?

A: There is no point to assist them to build their damaged houses in the same area affected by floods or landslides. What we are trying to do is to provide them alternative lands in other areas and provide financial assistance to construct their houses in those areas.

Q: When taking action to mitigate disasters problem may arise with regard to policies and existing laws. Have you come across such situations with the Disaster Management Act and other laws and what actions have you taken to rectify such situations?

A: Certain changes are now been made to the Disaster Management Act of 2005. But there are no major legal barriers for us to continue our activities regarding disaster situations under existing laws.

Many of the decisions related to our Ministry are taken at the National Disaster Management Council under the Chairmanship of the President.

Members of the Government, Opposition, Provincial Council Chief Ministers and other relevant Ministers and Heads of Institutions are members of this council. The Prime Minister is the Vice Chairman of the National Disaster Management Council. Therefore, we are in a position to act within this system very easily and we face no major obstacles.

Q: The Provincial Councils and the Local Government bodies are also directly involved in the process of disaster management. But there are certain barriers for them to have direct funding for their projects. Is there any mechanism to overcome these obstacles?

A: When we are implementing many of our projects we get the support of the Local Government bodies. The subject of Disaster Management has to be a national level program. But when implementing the decisions taken at the National Disaster Management Council, we work very closely with the Provincial Councils and the Local Government bodies.

Q: Do they have authority to take direct financial assistance for these programs from donor agencies and other relevant agencies working towards disaster management?

A: There are fund allocations for these Local Government bodies from the Government. But we are not allocating money separately for the Local Government bodies. These funds go to the Ministries and the Provincial Councils.

They should make these project a priority projects for their institutions. Keeping the drainage systems clear is a major responsibility of the Local Government bodies. But we see many Local Government bodies have deviated from their responsibilities.

Maintaining street lamps, drainage systems and garbage disposal are major duties vested with the Local Government bodies and they have neglected those duties. Therefore, we have to remind them of their duties also.

Q: International cooperation, expert knowledge and the state-of-the art equipment also play a major role in the disaster management process. How do you get this support from international organisations and other countries?

A: It is true that the Government alone cannot act in isolation when facing disaster situations. The support of the international community is very vital in this process. The technology, expertise knowledge, training opportunities and the financial assistance from these organisations are very much important for us in this process.

We have already taken their assistance from these organizations. In the future also we are planning to maintain very good relationship with these countries and organizations.

Q: There are predictions that the country will face a severe drought situation in the near future. Are we ready to face such a situation if one such arise?

A: Drought is not like floods. When there are floods there are benefits to the country though we face disaster situations. The tanks of the Irrigation Department get filled and the reservoirs get filled when there is a flood situation in the country. But droughts are not like that. Everyone gets affected. The Agriculture Department, Ceylon Electricity Board also get affected by such droughts. There is no way for us to avoid such a situation like the way we control floods.

There are no instant solutions for droughts. What we can do is to protect our environment and prepare ourself to face such situations.

Therefore droughts are a very challenging situation for us. We can help people but providing a solution is somewhat a difficult task. However, we are helping the other agencies to increase the water reserves in the country. We can construct many tanks for this. We are also promoting rain water harvesting projects in dry zone areas to face such situations.

Q: What are the institutional changes that you have made under your Ministry to effectively face disaster situations in the country?

A: We have four main Institutions under our Ministry. The Meteorological Department is one key institution and it plays a major role in disaster management. If we can develop to give a proper weather forecast enabling others to plan their future activities that will be an effective change. To meet that challenge we are going to improve the Met Department under an accelerated program by providing modern equipment and also other human resources.

On the other hand, we are also taking steps to strengthen the activities of the Disaster Management Centre by making it an Authority through a new Act.

That will enable it to act effectively in an event of a disaster. For instance we have mobilised the support of 25 security forces personnel from each camp to give us support in an event of a disaster. We are supplying them with necessary equipment.

That will also enable to mobilise more volunteer organisations and take their participation in an event of a disaster.

The Building Research Organisation will also be strengthened to minimise the number of landslides in the country and also to extend its support for the general public to have its support for better quality buildings.