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Engineers join landslide battle
By Faraza Farook
Alarmed by the recent devastating floods and a series of landslides that killed hundreds of people, the Institute of Engineers of Sri Lanka (IESL) has called on the government to scrap the present National Disaster Management Centre and set up a disaster mitigation and management authority (DIMMA) instead to put in place an effective mechanism to deal with landslides.

"The IESL proposal has been sent to Minister Karu Jayasuriya who heads a Cabinet sub committee on disaster management with copies being sent to other Cabinet ministers in a bid to get their support for the early implementation of the DIMMA," IESL President. L.L. Ratnayake told a panel discussion organised by the IESL, the Institute of Civil Engineers (ICE) and the Geo-technical Society last Thursday.
The participants agreed that such an authority could greatly reduce loss of lives, damage to property and the cost of rehabilitation.

"A committee should be appointed immediately to review the existing disaster management mechanism and recommend reforms to include the important function of mitigation," Prof. Ratnayake said. He said the new authority should be brought under the purview of the Ministry of Policy Planning because the mitigation measures required coordination with many engineering and scientific agencies.

The IESL chief said the absence of such an authority was one of the reasons for the non-implementation of an earlier proposal with landslide hazard zonation maps.
The new authority should employ a core group of experts on a full-time basis, Prof. Ratnayake said adding that the lack of dynamism displayed by the present National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) that comes under the Social Service Ministry was partly due to the fact that it employed people on a part-time basis.

R.M. Bandara, Director (Landslides) at the National Building Research Organisation NBRO said the available zonation maps must be used during infrastructure and urban planning. He stressed the need to bring in legislation for disaster counter measures to be embodied in the national and regulatory planning.

The landslide hazard zonation maps were a result of a research carried out by the NBRO. The Centre for Housing Planning and Building (CHPB) and the NBRO had also conducted awareness programmes for people living in vulnerable areas on procedures to be adopted in construction and agricultural activities, Road Development Authority Consultant D. P. Mallawarachchi told the panel discussion. He said these measures did not produce expected results because of weaknesses in implementation.

Echoing a similar view, CHPB Director Geethi Karunaratne: "Pre-disaster mitigation should be our focus in order to reduce the effects of the hazards irrespective of the magnitude of the incidents. Therefore we should be prepared for anything."

Prof. Nimal Seneviratne of the University of Peradeniya speaking on the management of landslide hazards said several pre-phase measures should be considered in dealing with the issue. He identified these measures as zoning and controlled development, reduction of causative forces, strengthening slopes, installing early warning systems, increased disaster preparedness, dissemination of knowledge, better land use and construction practices.

The degradation of slopes was often due to improper land use practices and haphazard tea cultivation and gem mining. Another problem confronted by the authorities, he said, was that early warnings went unheeded. "People who received such warnings ignored them, because in a previous instance, although cautioned, the disaster never took place," Prof. Seneviratne said.

IESL seeks sweeping changes
The Institute of Engineers of Sri Lanka (IESL) has called for the reactivation and the restructure of the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) to make it a Disaster Mitigation and Management Authority (DIMMA).

The NDMC which comes under the Ministry of Social Welfare and functions with a skeleton staff needed to be restructured with emphasis on mitigation measures, the IESL said and added that it should be brought under the Ministry of Policy Planning as it should have the capacity to coordinate with many Engineering and Scientific agencies.

The IESL said the present arrangements of the Social Welfare Ministry along with other agencies entrusted with pre-disaster mitigation measures were not geared to execute proposals in a coordinated and streamlined manner.

Meanwhile the IESL is also calling for the withdrawal of the Sri Lanka Disaster Counter Measures Bill and the National Disaster Management (NDM Plan) Bill so that new provisions to set up the DIMMA could be included in them.

The IESL said that the proposed Authority (DIMMA) should obtain the services of the Irrigation Department, Land Reclamation and Development Corporation, Urban Development Authority, the Centre for Housing, Planning and Building, the Survey Department and the Survey and Mines Bureau among others in the pre-disaster mitigation work.

Pilot projects carried out in selected local authority areas must be adopted in other areas of the country. Local, district and provincial level agencies, departments and other national institutions have been suggested to be partners in remodelling the NDMC. On establishment of DIMMA, it has been proposed that specific responsibilities could be assigned to the different institutions involved.

Ministry Sec. rejects proposal
The National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) set up for the prevention, mitigation, planning and implementation of proposals to deal with catastrophes that could take place is manned by a staff of three persons.

According to Social Welfare Ministry Secretary V. Jegarajasingham, they are unable to recruit more staff as the bill on Disaster Counter Measures is yet to be passed in parliament. "Only after the bill is passed, can we consider strengthening the staff," she said.

Ms. Jegarajasigham said that in addition to the three people, the centre also had supporting staff and obtained services of experts as and when required. While the engineers are lobbying for the restructuring of the existing NDMC into a Disaster Mitigation and Management Authority, Ms. Jegarajasingham dismissed the need to reorganize. "A separate sub committee on landslides is what we need. There is no need to restructure the NDMC as it is fully functional."

The NDMC comes under the Ministry of Social Welfare and was established in 1996. However, following last month's floods which claimed several lives and caused extensive damage, there is criticism on the absence of an effective mechanism to ensure disaster preparedness and management.

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