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Be
prepared! Not so far away, the earthquake in Kashmir has stunned the world with the desperate plight of millions of survivors still short of food and shelter, three weeks after the disaster. Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, it seems as if we are engrossed in nothing else but the progress of Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremesinghe in their pursuit of the country's top job. A the rains continue. Experts have repeatedly warned - to deaf ears - of impending disaster if there is more than 200 mm of rainfall in certain threatened areas. The signs are there. The Meteorological Department warned this week that heavy rains being experienced in the country might trigger floods and landslides in several districts. In the past two weeks, there have been earthslips in Ratnapura and Palindanuwara. Politics had preoccupied our legislators over the past five years or so - when we have had election after election - and prevented them from even passing a draft bill on disaster management. It took a tsunami to jerk them into some action and have the bill passed. But what has happened since then? Ten months after the tsunami, most of the attention has been devoted to the challenge of providing relief and haggling over buffer zones. But what is the country's state of preparedness to face a disaster, whether be it another tsunami, earthquake, flood, landslide, cyclone or even bird flu? The government needs to focus on implementing the provisions of the recently passed Bill on Disaster Management, which has enabled the establishment of a National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC). While impressive on paper, the reality is that the NDMC cannot function independently and must work via the Disaster Management Council, headed by the President, to take any prior or post disaster action/measures. How practical is that in the event of a sudden calamity? The Council is yet to hold a meeting though the Bill was passed a few months ago. The Government and the Opposition rushed the Bill through and in the process, key recommendations such as the establishment of a Disaster Mitigation and Management Authority (DIMMA) which would be an independent authority on disaster management, invested with the necessary powers to liaise with relevant authorities, such as the National Building Research Organisation ( NBRO ), the Road Development Authority, the Water and Drainage Board etc. and take prompt action, were overlooked. Little
or nothing is being done to relocate people and re-channel water
flowing downhill, in high-risk slide-prone areas. Cultivation continues
and with more water seeping into the cracks in the mountains, the
danger is very real. People also need to be trained in handling emergency situations. In May this year, the NBRO spoke of the difficulties in accurately pinpointing the exact location of possible landslides given that the Meteorology Department still lacked modern equipment to forecast the weather. The NBRO itself, which seeks some Rs 9 million funding annually from the State receives only Rs. 6 million.In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, there was much talk of an Early Warning System promised by the UN. What happened? The Sri Lanka Red Cross Society is constructing a National Disaster Management Centre with Korean aid to strengthen its capacity in disaster preparedness and response. It will have an Early Warning Communication Centre linked to the Regional Global Disaster Management Centre to be on 24-hour alert for disaster signals. Such
efforts are welcome and the importance of proper coordination between
the agencies carrying out the studies and those handling rescue
and relief operations in the event of a disaster, cannot be stressed
enough. Even with her limited resources, South Asian solidarity must come to the fore. But before that Sri Lanka must wake up. |
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