
Activity Report: Area & Country >> Sri Lanka

2 December - 5 December (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
ADRC representative recently visited Sri Lanka to explore the possibility of further strengthening collaboration between Sri Lanka and ADRC, especially focusing on the next Asian Conference on Disaster Reduction (ACDR) to be held in Sri Lanka sometime next year. Sri Lank, similar to many other Asian countries, is susceptible to various types of disasters. The 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, already six years ago, killed more than thirty thousand people, injured more than twenty thousand and affected more than 1 million populations in Sri Lanka, the sheer scale of which is second only to Indonesia. Flood and land/mud slides frequently cause extensive human and physical damages in many parts of the country, but one of the most recent ones was the flash flood occurred in the capital Colombo affecting a large number of residents.
During the stay there, we visited several disaster stricken sites. One of the most intriguing sites was the Tsunami Photo Museum located nearby the site of a passenger train washed away by Tsunami killing over a 1,000 people in Galle district, southern part of Sri Lanka. This museum, privately owned, contains precious photos and messages of Tsunami, but in a small hut.
(2010/12/7 13:10)

In the workshop, the ADRC made a presentation on disaster risk assessment and its efforts in Japan and also conducted a town watching program on both days. The target area for the town watching has been considered as a high risk area of flooding to be caused by dam break in the near future. DMC has been preparing for the expected disaster through the awareness raising of local government officials and community people in the area, as well as developing hazard maps. The workshop offered a good opportunity to enhance understanding and recognition of risks in the area among high level officials in the concerned local government and agencies.
28-30 September 2009 (Colombo, Sri Lanka)
The ADRC mission visited the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights and Disaster Management Center to discuss the monitoring of nature disaster through space utilization and to further promote cooperation in that field. We also visited the Department of Meteorology, Survey Department, Coast Conservation Department and National Building Research Organization, to discuss the role of the utilization of the Space Technology for monitoring of nature disasters.
(2009/10/06 17:30)

As final activity of the Study on CBDM, a seminar on CBDM was conducted in Colombo on 5 December 2008 with around 100 participants in charge of disaster management in District Disaster Management Coordinating Unit, Divisonal Secretariat Office, and NGOs. In the seminar, discussion on enhancing CBDM through review of draft of disaster educational material, and practical training of community hazard mapping and a game for disaster awareness.
Further information on the Study, please visit the following website of Disaster Management Center of Sri Lanka: http://www.dmc.gov.lk/jica/index.html
(2009/03/10 10:40)