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Ministry admits it was not prepared for disaster
View(s):The Disaster Management Ministry exposed its unpreparedness to deal with a disaster situation, admitting it lacks stocks of basic items such as blankets, life jackets, umbrellas, torches or even boxes of matches to distribute in such situations. In response to this week’s flood havoc that crippled the nation, the Ministry of Disaster Management was in shortage of basic humanitarian needs for an immediate response.
The Ratnapura District is one of the worst affected by the current flood havoc as seen in this aerial picture where some people have found temporary shelter on the roof while the flood waters threaten to go above roof level. The security forces are making every effort to rescue such people who have been in this perilous situation for two days. Pic by Indika Handuwala.
A document, prepared on Friday by the ministry to share with UN and other international donors, seeking their assistance indicated that there are no stocks of drinking water (bottles of five liters or above), blankets, life jackets, mobile toilets, umbrellas, torches and boxes of matches .
The document titled “National Disaster Relief Services Centre Requests for Relief”, dated Friday detailed the current needs that were calculated based on demographic and historic data from previous disaster situations. Some 23 urgent humanitarian needs were included with details of the amounts needed, availability and the extent of the shortage.
Conceding that the ministry did not have an adequate stock at its disposal at the time of the flood havoc, Disaster Management Ministry Secretary S. S Miyanawala told the Sunday Times that purchasing those items was outsourced due to to their availability in the market at any time.
“We cannot keep all the items in our store rooms for long due to their expiry dates or instances of no disasters during a particular time period. However, we have decided to form district-based stocks availability with adequate resources,” he said.
Mr. Miyanwala said a special programme called “Disaster Risk Reduction” was being implemented by the ministry to minimise damage.
“Even in this case, our Meteorological Department issued early forecasts on South Western monsoon rains and serious weather warnings were issued on a timely basis,” Mr. Miyanwala said, explaining the precautionary steps the ministry had taken to face the bad weather conditions.
Earlier the Foreign Affairs Ministry had activated the Emergency Response Unit of the Ministry, to coordinate rescue and relief measures.
The ministry in coordination with the Ministry of Disaster Management has made an appeal to the UN, the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) and neighboring countries to provide assistance to affected people.
Meanwhile, a national policy formulated by the Disaster Management Ministry under the title “Sri Lanka Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme 2014-2018″ noted that in addition to potential climate change contributions, flash flood impacts are further aggravated by urbanisation, settlements in flood prone areas and infrastructure developments.
Last year, floods and landslides caused by torrential rains left 71 people dead, 127 missing, and more than 319,000 displaced, while about 427,000 people were affected.