ஒரு ஊரின் அபிவிருத்தியில் அரசியல் பிரதிநிதியின் வகிபாகம் என்ன?

சமூக பொருளாதார அபிவிருத்தி பிரச்சினைகளோ ஆயிரமாயிரம்..... உதாரணத்திற்கு மாத்திரம் இரண்டு:

கழிவு முகாமைத்துவம்: கல்முனை மாநகர சபைக்குள் நாளாந்தம் 40 தொன் குப்பை சேர்கிறது. இதற்கு நிரந்தரத் தீர்வு பற்றி இன்னும் மூச்சு விட்டுக்கூட பார்க்கவில்லை. வெறும் கெம்பக்டர் அதுவும் 120000 சனத்தொகைக்கு மேலதிகமாக ஒன்றை சேர்ப்பதால் பெரிதாக ஒன்றும் ஆகப்போவதில்லை. தோணா தாமரைக்குளம் கரைவாகுப்பற்று கரையோரப்பகுதிகள் என்று எங்கும் குப்பைகளாலும் சு10ழல் மாசடைந்து கிடக்கிறது.

கல்வி: எமது பிரதேசத்தில் உள்ள மிகப்பெரிய இரு பாடசாலைகள் உட்பட ஏனைய பாடசாலைகள் அனைத்திலும் கல்வி வீழ்ச்சியடைந்திருப்பது தெரிந்தும் அதற்கு எந்த திட்டமும் இல்லை. ஒரு பாடசாலை நாளில் ஏழு மணி நேரம் எமது பிள்ளைகள் செலவழிக்கிறார்கள். பாடசாலைகளை அபிவிருத்தி செய்வதை விட்டு விட்டு தொடர்ந்தும் இந்த பிரதேச பள்ளிவாசல்களுக்கு மாத்திரம் நிதி ஒதுக்கீடு செய்கின்ற அபிவிருத்தி அரசியலினால் தான் என்ன பயன்? பாடசாலைகளை சீரழித்து பள்ளிகளை அபிவிருத்தி செய்வது என்ன பாவத்திற்கான பிராயச்சித்தமா? எந்தவொரு சமூகத்தினதும் பாடசாலைகளும் அதன் விழுமியக் கல்வியும் எந்தளவு தூரம் ஒரு பிரதேசத்தை அலங்கரிக்கிறதோ அப்பகுதி பள்ளிவாசல்கள் தானாக வளம்பெறும். பள்ளிவாசல்களுக்கு நிதி ஒதுக்குவது மிக இலகுவான காரியமாச்சே...அது போன்ற சிறு வேலைகளை செய்யத்தான் மக்கள் அரசியல் பிரதிநிதிகளை தெரிவுசெய்தனரா?

மீண்டும் மீண்டும் நிருபிக்கிறீர்கள்... எமக்கு இயலுமானது சிந்தனைக்கு எட்டுவது அவ்வளவுதான்...SMART City... Green City... எல்லாம் மேடைப்பேச்சுக்கு மாத்திரமே... நாம் பள்ளிகளை அலங்கரித்து மார்க்கத்திற்கு உதவும் எண்ணத்தை மக்களின் மனதில் பதிக்க எண்ணுவீர்களானால் அது சமூகத்தை மார்க்கத்தின் பெயரில் கொலை செய்வதற்கு சமம் என்பதை ஏன் இன்னும் உணரவில்லை..

2004ம் ஆண்டு இந்து சமுத்திர சுனாமியின் அதிர்வலைகள்

2004ம் ஆண்டு இந்து சமுத்திரத்தில் ஏற்பட்ட சுனாமி அனர்த்தம் இலங்கையின் வடக்கு கிழக்கு மற்றும் தென் மாகாணங்களை தாக்கியது. பல்லாயிரக்கணக்கான உயிர்களையும் காவு கொண்டது. இன்றையைப்;போல ஒரு அமைதியான காலைப்பொழுதிலே இலங்கையின் பெரும்பாலான மக்கள் தன்வாழ்நாளிலே கேட்டிராத அந்த சொல் வரலாற்றின் சொல்லாக மாறியது.

பேராதனைப் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் பொறியியல் பீடத்தின் விடுகை வருட மாணவனாக இறுதிப் பரீட்சைக்கு இரண்டு வார கால விடுமுறை அறிவிக்கப்பட்டு பரீட்சைக்கு தயார்படுத்திக்கொண்டிருந்த காலப்பகுதி அது 2004ம் ஆண்டின் இறுதி வாரம்.

26ம் திகதி காலை தான் பிறந்த ஊரின் அவலம் எதுவென அறியாது பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் விடுதியிலிருந்து அல்குர்ஆன் கற்கைக்கான ஒரு வகுப்பில் கலந்து கொள்ள கண்டி நகருக்கு சென்றுவிட்டேன். மாலை 3 மணிக்கு பல்கலைக்கழக விடுதிக்கு மீண்டும் திரும்பி வரும்வரை எதுவுமறியாதிருந்த எனக்கு நண்பர்கள் சொன்ன சொல் தான் சுனாமி.

பொறியியல் கற்கைநெறியில் சுனாமி தொடர்பான ஒரு பாடத்தை தாங்கள் கற்றதாக சிவில் பொறியியல் துறை மாணவர்கள் அதைப்பற்றிய விளக்கத்தை சொல்லிக்கொண்டிருந்தார்கள். வீட்டுத்தொலைபேசியை அழைத்தும் எந்த பதிலும் கிடைக்கவில்லை. பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் முஸ்லிம் மஜ்லிசினால் உடனடியாக சுனாமியால் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட இடங்களுக்கு செல்வதாக முடிவுசெய்யப்பட்டது. நானும் இணைந்து கொண்டேன். மறுநாள் 27ம் திகதி அதிகாலை சாய்ந்தமருதை வந்தடைந்து வீடு சென்று உம்மாவிடம் வந்துவிட்டதை அறிவித்து விட்டு கல்யாண வீதியின் மறுபக்கம் (கிழக்குப்பகுதி) சென்றேன். ஒரு கனம் அதிர்ந்து அசையாது நிலைதடுமாறி நின்றேன் எனது ஊரின் நிலை கண்டு. வாழ்நாளிலே என் கண்கள் பார்த்திராத அந்த சோகம் என் மனதிலே இறைநியதியையும் இறைவனின் தீர்ப்பையும் ஏற்க மறுத்தது. \

கடல் கொண்ட கோபத்திற்கு ஏன் இறைவனின் தீர்ப்பை மறுக்க வேண்டும் என எண்ணத்தோன்றியது. இல்லை நாமும் நம் சமுகமும் செய்த செயல்களுக்கான விளைவை இறைவன் கடல் மூலம் சோதனை செய்துள்ளான் எனும் வார்த்தைகள் என் காதுகளுக்கு கேட்கிறது. ஆனால் பேசுவதற்கு நேரமில்லை. இன்னும் மையித்துக்களை கண்டுபிடித்து அடக்கம் செய்து முடியவில்லை. அன்றே என் உள்ளத்தில் மனிதாபிமானம் என்ற சொற்பிரயோகம் அதன் ஆழ அகலம் புரியாமல் விதைக்கப்பட்டது. 2004ம் ஆண்டு 26ம் திகதிக்கு முன் சமூக செயற்பாடு சமூக சேவை என்றிருந்த எனது வாழ்கையின் இலட்சியம் மனிதாபிமான சேவையே சமூகத்திற்கான எனது கடமை என்பதை மாற்ற ஆரம்பித்தது.

அன்றிலிருந்து இன்று 14 வருடமாக என் வாழ்கையின் தொழில் சார் துறையாக மட்டுமல்ல எனது தனிப்பட்ட வாழ்விலும் சமூக வாழ்விலும் மானிதாபிமான செயற்பாட்டாளனாக அத்துறையில் பயிற்றுவிப்பவனாக ஆராய்ச்சி செய்பவனாக அது பற்றி மக்களுக்கு விளிப்பூட்டுபவனாக என்னை நான் செதுக்கினேன். இது சமூகக்கடமையாகவும் இறை திருப்தியை நாடி செய்யும் மனநிறைவுடனான வாழ்கையாகவும் மாற்றியமைத்துக்கொண்டேன் என்றே சொல்ல வேண்டும்.

மனிதாபினம் அனர்த்த உதவி வேலை என்னை உலகிற்கே அறிமுகப்படுத்தியது. இன்ஸா அல்லா அது தொடரவேண்டும் என்பதுவே என ஆசை.  அதையே எனக்கு இறைவன் எனது துறையாக கலையாக அறிவாக செயற்பாடாக ஆக்கியிருக்கிறான் என்ற மன நிம்மதியோடு இறைவனின் இருப்பையும் அவனின் படைப்புக்கள் நியதிகள் உலக ஓட்டம் மறுமையின் உண்மைத்தன்மை எல்லாவற்றையும் ஓரே இடத்தில் குவிக்கும் இத்தொழிலை தொண்டை மனமாற செய்வதில் தன் கடமையை நிறைவுற செய்த திருப்த்pயுடன் இறைவனை நோக்கி மீண்டும் செல்லும் பாதையாக அவனை அதை அமைத்திருக்கிறான்.

படங்கள் - சிரேஸ்ட ஆசிரியர் எம். ஜ. எம். அஸ்ஹர்

Trends in disaster impacts – lower mortality, but higher cost

Disaster Risk Reduction Technical Paper Excerpt

October 13, 2018

Saja Aslam - Fellow and DRR Expert at Field Ready, USA

Over the past decades, number of disaster events across the world have devastated many communities. According to the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), over 600,000 people died, 4.1 billion people were injured, or became homeless and needed emergency assistance over the last two decades due to natural disasters.

 A recent trend is observed that the substantial investments in economy and social infrastructure, are increasingly damaged by disasters. CRED, in its 2017 annual disaster statistical review, highlighted that there were fewer natural disasters, deaths, and total people affected in 2017, however with the higher economic losses - almost 50% increase, compared to the previous decade (2007-2016). Rapid urbanization, increasing extreme climatic events, and poor risk-sensitive infrastructure development will further increase the fiscal cost of disaster losses.

 

International Day for Disaster Reduction - 2018

International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR), celebrated on 13 October every year reminds us the need for greater awareness for emerging multiple disaster risks in every part of the world.

The 2015-2030 Sendai Framework has set seven global targets and four priorities for actions. The four priority actions include: understanding disaster risk, strengthening disaster risk governance, investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response.

The third year international day is remarked under the theme of meeting the Target C of the Sendai Framework, minimizing the economic losses due to disasters.

The recent earthquake and subsequent Tsunami in Sulawesi, Indonesia reminded the world again the need for innovative new technologies for effective early warning systems and quicker response strategies.

The resilience to disasters needs to be built-in within the social systems and processes, not only making disaster and climate risk-sensitive development projects, but also in the disaster response work.

 

Field Ready’s work and investment in Disaster Preparedness/Risk Reduction

Field Ready is pioneering new ways to help people vulnerable to emerging disaster risks and people affected by disasters. In the humanitarian sector Field Ready provides innovative solutions to complex problems by designing and making using local tools and means.

When a disaster strikes, the right tools and equipment can make the difference between life and death. A lot can be done by reducing risks prior to a disaster. However, the results are often unpredictable due to a lack of preparedness in the of face disaster situations.

One of the key factors that reduces the effectiveness of disaster response is slow and expensive humanitarian supply chains. For example, locally made tools and equipment for search and rescue operations not only increase the effectiveness of the aid, but also help improve community resilience through disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities. Alternative and more innovative means of providing search, rescue and preparedness are vital to save lives in the first place.

Using locally available technology and an approach that enables local capacity not only provides means to significantly reduce costs, but also an increased ability to save lives. This approach will increase resilience to future disasters by enabling more people to respond to crisis and to fill gaps in the supply chain in the early stages of a response.

Tags:

Disaster Risk Reduction

Education

Resilience

Technology

Thirteen Years after 2004 Tsunami

Future of coastal cities in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka

December 25, 2017, 8:10 pm 

by Aslam Saja

Tsunami disaster 2004

Sri Lanka was hit by an Indian Ocean Tsunami on 26, December 2004. It was recorded as one of the worst disasters ever in the history of Sri Lanka due to enormous loss of life, damage to infrastructure and economy of the coastal regions of Sri Lanka. About 75% of the Sri Lankan coastal region was affected by this tragedy which left many people homeless and caused severe disruption to their livelihood.

Are we prepared to face another tsunami?

Prevention, mitigation and preparedness start with information. It has been proven in many cases that where information was adequately transmitted through a range of different techniques to the communities at risk, i.e., vulnerable people, people were able to act on time and minimise loss of life and damage. This wasn’t the case in 2004 tsunami due to lack of knowledge and experience of such a large scale Tsunami events in the past history of Sri Lanka. Disaster risk reduction and resilience are not simply a matter of sophisticated technology and hardware, at root it is also a matter of people, their vigilance, communication, and education. Even after 13 years, the experiences and memories of Tsunami are still not faded from people. It is evident from very recent chaos in the Eastern coastal areas of a Tsunami rumour, when people observed abnormalities in the sea. People were very fast to act and be prepared to evacuate even without an early warning from the authorities. An excessive fear of Tsunami shows the extent of the tragedy that left in peoples’ mind, despite the fact that there was no scientific evidence and warning of Tsunami from responsible authorities during the recent chaos due to rumour.

However, the question still remains unanswered perhaps difficult, to be confident that, our coastal cities are safer and resilient to face disasters and emerging social challenges? A study done by Arup International identified 12 key themes for a resilient city: essential needs; healthmanagement; livelihood support; lawenforcement; social harmonisation;information and knowledge management;capacity and coordination; criticalinfrastructure management; environmentalmanagement; urban strategy and planning;economic sustainability; accessibility. It is right time to reflect our coastal city plans, particularly the coastal cities in the Eastern Province whether they have minimum standards for a resilient city.

Beyond tsunami resilient cities – Is the city Green, Safer, Sustainable, and Resilient (GSSR)?

It is estimated that 44% of the population living in urban areas in Sri Lanka (IPS 2012) and 50% of the Sri Lankan population will be living in urban localities by 2020 due to rapid annual urban growth, which is 3% as well astransformation of rural areas to urban. Further, around 70% of the urban population and 80% of national economic infrastructure is concentrated in coastal and mountain cities. Most of the coastal and mountain cities of Sri Lanka are highly vulnerable to multiple hazards. Coastal cities are at higher risk for sea level rise, salination of water resources, and storm surges that impact human settlements, city productivity and service delivery (UNHABITAT 2014).

Almost all the coastal regions of North and Eastern Parts of Sri Lanka were badly affected by 2004 tsunami disaster. Many development initiatives had taken place in the Post-Tsunami phase and in the post-war period since 2009. However, are we building a Green, Safer, Sustainable, and Resilient (GSSR) coastal cities, that is not only vulnerable to Tsunami hazard, but to multiple natural hazards such as cyclone and flooding, and to other social shocks, is the key question to ask ourselves. Due to higher population density in many of the coastal cities in the Eastern Province, it is not only to think about disaster resilient coastal cities, but a safer city from social crimes and a greener and sustainable city to combat against the climate and health risks.

Urban planning and liveable cities

A more holistic approach is required to design, plan, and manage a Green, Safer, Sustainable, and Resilient (GSSR) dynamic coastal city by integrating effective economic, social, and environmental processes as well as their physical elements. Finally, it boils down to visionary political leadership and local governance. Is it simply a question of political vision? Of course, Yes. I happen to come across a good example of a planned city in India – Chandigarh. Chandigarh was described as a dream city of India's first Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru. The master plan of the city was prepared by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier and in 2016,Chandigarh’s Capitol Complex was declared by UNESCO as the latest addition to World Heritage. The city is known for its best architecture, modernisation, and urban design. Sri Lankan coastal cities need to get a new gesture, new dimension, and new inspiration.

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) proposed a new definition for urban areas. A GN division is defined as an urban area if a GN division has a minimum population of 750 persons, a population density greater than 500 persons per square kilometres, firewood dependence of less than 95 % households, and well-water dependence of less than 95% households (IPS 2016). Eight coastal districts are among the top ten list of highest urban population in Sri Lanka (See Figure 2). Given this context and definition for urban areas, are the urban cities liveable and will we have a breathable and safer space for our future generation?

Many factors influence in determining a liveable city. It was reported by Economist Intelligent Unit that the Melbourne city holds onto first place for the seventh year in a row, among 140 cities around the world. The rating was done based on many indicators on five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.For example, stability factor includes the indicators of prevalence of social crimes and threat to violence/conflict; healthcare includes the availability and quality of public and private healthcare; cultural/environmental indicators include the sporting/cultural availability, level of corruption, and social/religious/cultural restrictions; education indicators include availability, access, and quality of public and private education; the infrastructure indicators such as quality of road network, public transport, housing, energy provision, water provision, and quality of telecommunication. I don’t aim to compare the liveability index of the cities in developed countries, but at minimum we aim to reach the minimum standards of living. The population density of few major cities is more than ten to twenty times fold than an average population density of a local authority in Sri Lanka.Most of our cities in the Eastern province suffer from lack of identity of its own, and lost in taking a shape for a liveable city. In this context, it is imperative that our cities are developed with proper urban design and modern transformations.

Development of cities and politics in the Eastern Province

A five year Eastern Development Plan (2012-2016) produced by Eastern Provincial Council road map for the development activities and to provide solutions to address the challenges. The plan outlines many sectoral plans that includes agriculture, forestry, land, livestock, and fisheries, housing and infrastructure development, Industrial, and Human development. Among many initiatives to develop and transform villages and cities to the modern state of the art, many local authorities have failed in the Eastern province to find solutions to the most pressing social, economic, and environmental issues.

For example, due to lack of development along with the increasing population and their needs within the Kalmunai Municipality for the past three decades, people from Sainthmaruthu have been demanding for a separate local authority. The failure of political leadership to keep a pace to the development needs of the people has intensified recently and the Kalmunai Municipality is at the verge of complete debacle, which limits its ability to further advance its development. The upcoming local government elections will reflect the ongoing turmoil, where Sainthamaruthu division, which is homed to 30% of the total voters/population of the Kalmunai Municipality has taken a decision to field candidates in an independent group in support of their demand for separate local authority. The changing political landscape not only in Kalmunai Municipality, but in many of the local authorities in the Eastern Province is yet to be seen, however undoubtedly a change in political authority is highly likely. In the midst of poor local leadership, stunted development with a long-term goals, and lack of understanding of the civic responsibility further accrued to the worst situation during the past eight years since the end of the war in 2009. The political leadership completely failed to understand the needs of the people and continued to divide the people, aggravating regionalism and ethno-centric politics, resulted in unrealistic promises that could not be met by the current political leaders. People upraise in a series of protests and demonstrations with the help of social media, viewed as similar to the uprisings held in middle-east countries to gain their demands and continuous betrayal of current local and national political leaders. The time has come to change the political culture and the layout in which politics is centred on peoples’ needs and rights, devoid the ethos of using people as shield to the benefit of corrupted and reckless political clan. People need to be more educated and aware to exercise their votes in the upcoming local government elections to save their cities from another political Tsunami, and further to survive in any future Indian Ocean Tsunami that is not of our wish.

(Writer is a Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Oluvil and currently a PhD Scholar on Disaster Resilience,

saja.aslam@gmail.com)

Disasters in Sri Lanka - Floods and Landslides

Washed away

Thursday, June 1, 2017 - 01:00

Print Edition

Features

Eng. Aslam Saja

Every part of Sri Lanka is at least exposed to one of the natural disasters, be it a flood, landslide, cyclone, Tsunami, and if not to drought. In the recent past, there is a trend of increasing number of flood and landslide disaster events and their severity with the time. In Sri Lanka, the data between 1990 and 2011 indicates this trend particularly after 2003 (DMC 2012).

A number of deaths, causalities, and the damage caused by floods and landslides have sharply been increasing as obvious from the past few years. It is related to not only the increasing frequency and severity of the floods and landslides but also the higher exposure of people and infrastructure to disasters with unplanned human settlements and infrastructure, people living in highly vulnerable areas in a rapid urbanising Sri Lankan context.

Last year, in the same month of May, torrential rain across Sri Lanka, caused floods and landslides which affected half a million people and the death toll was around 100 people with 100 more people went missing. Same scenario of 2016 floods and landslides have repeated again in 2017.

Administrative districts

Floods are the most frequent and annually recurrent disaster in Sri Lanka and only a few areas in Sri Lanka can be called entirely flood-free. The highest number of flood events were reported from high rainfall areas; Ratnapura and Kalutara since 1999 (DMC 2012). Most of the floods in Sri Lanka are flash floods and riverine floods. Although there is enough lead time to issue an early warning for evacuation of the population in times of riverine floods, flash floods arrive with little warning and become destructive.

The occurrence of landslides and their reactivation have become a frequent phenomenon in the hill country causing severe damages to life and property. The Hazard Profile of Sri Lanka (DMC 2012) identifies nearly 13,000 km2 (20% area of the country) in ten administrative districts of Sri Lanka are considered to be landslide prone. These districts include Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Matale, Kandy, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Kalutara, Galle, Matara, and Hambanthota. 19% of Badulla, 10% of Kalutara, 27% of Kandy, 36% of Kegalle, 12% of Matale, 22% of Nuwara Eliya, and 34% of Ratnapura land area are demarcated as hazardous area in the Landslide Hazard Zonation mapping in the central highlands of Sri Lanka (DMC 2012 Hazard profile). The above area is categorised as landslides are most likely to occur, and the higher level of threat to life and property exists, where no new constructions should be permitted.

South-West monsoon

Additions to the existing structures may be allowed only after thorough site investigation by the specialists. Records of National Building Research Organization (NBRO) highlights that between 1975 and 2000, Sri Lanka witnessed disastrous landslides almost every year killing over 108 people in 24 fatal landslides. However, landslides in Sri Lanka in the last few years were disastrous, claimed more than 100 lives in one incident.

The deadly landslide hit the Meeriyabedda tea plantation in Haldummulla, Badulla in September 2014, followed by another deadliest landslide in Aranayake in May 2016 ploughed the entire village, killing 100 people and leaving another 100 missing. We are now witnessing the third surge of deadliest landslide since 2014 during South-West monsoon consecutively. Generally, there are three broad approaches to encounter floods and landslides: Prevention, Mitigation, and Preparedness. For the flood protection and flood risk reduction measures, it is either the floods to be prevented from reaching people or people need to be removed from floods. When both options fail, preparedness becomes the only option.

However, flood protection measures in rapidly urbanising countries like Sri Lanka, which are largely structural measures are not simple to get them done than said, because of many factors of sustainability, cost-benefits, and environmental implications need to be duly considered.

Therefore, we need to resort to flood risk management with very high importance to preparedness measures. Are we equipped with enough flood preparedness mechanisms at local authority level? Do our people and village based organisations from the areas exposed to floods, have enough resources to respond in such calamities? People and community-based organisations are the first respondents to disasters, and they naturally come together leaving differences to take control of the situation, but often the severity of the disaster overwhelm their capacity to effectively manage the situation, hence demanding a timely multi-stakeholder response.

In order to reduce the risk of landslides, proper planning of human settlements, new infrastructure, and other development activities have been sought in the disaster risk reduction plans of the landslide prone areas. Existing guidelines needed to be strictly adhered to, when any development is planned within each landslide hazard zone, supported by the existing landslide hazard zonation maps to start with.

Climate change and disasters

In the midst of many disaster risk reduction initiatives island-wide, are we still prepared enough to face the enormous challenges created by climate change and disasters? Are development plans climate smart and disaster risk-sensitive? Has Sri Lanka done sufficient investment to enforce the integration of disaster and climate risks in development activities amidst the boost of multimillion dollar development projects across the island? Do we have policy lags for promoting and enforcing risk-sensitive development planning and implementation? Can we be satisfied with our national and local policy makers and local authorities in terms of proper risk-sensitive development planning? Do our public care about what is happening in their surrounding or what they are doing on their own – that do not lead to disasters and contribute negatively to climate change? Public also need to take responsibility for risk-informed development along with the local authorities.

The change cannot be expected only from the national and local policy makers, but we as citizens of this country need to take responsibility and leading role in solving our own problem, rather than just contemplating in the blaming game and finger point everything to authorities. The public can make the authorities work in the right path if due pressure given on the right time, at the right place.

We have much more crises in the pipeline to solve, drought and chronic kidney diseases in addition to completely human-made waste disposal disasters, as recently seen in the Meethotamulla garbage dump collapse. Every year we have many unfortunate stories and current disaster situation is another reminder of Sri Lankan society’s tragic loss, without forgetting the losses and remnants due to three decades of war. Let us pray the floods and landslides wash away our differences, not our lives and belongings.

Floods and landslide never see the difference of race, ethnicity, caste, culture, economic status, and colour of people. Time has come to work together, building trust among the communities, and with the state and local authorities, so that a conducive environment exist for multi-stakeholder collaboration to build a safer Sri Lanka.

(The writer is a PhD Scholar on disaster resilience, QUT, Brisbane)

Disasters one after the other – A serious threat to the economy of the nation!

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A recent World Bank report highlighted that around 17% of the Sri Lankan population is living in the ‘severe’ heat wave hotspots, while 70% is living in ‘moderate’ hotspot conditions – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

By Saja A.A. Majeed

The month of September in 2018 was a month of disasters all around the world. In many countries, the month of October is also disaster dubious with many hurricanes on its way, aftershocks are predicted, heatwaves are on the roar, and unusual storms are forecasted. 

Sri Lanka is right on the hotspot. A recent World Bank report highlighted that around 17% of the Sri Lankan population is living in the ‘severe’ heat wave hotspots, while 70% is living in ‘moderate’ hotspot conditions. 

While the country is (believed to be) far from earthquake fault-lines and zones, the entire island is highly threatened by the Indian Ocean tsunami and large scale tropical cyclones at any time. That being another historical event since 2004, if it happens again, we have more to worry in our day to day life – floods, droughts, landslides, and cyclones. This is a sad story that no single piece of land in the island seems to be safe from at least one of these extreme climate hotspots, be it a slow onset or rapid triggered disaster event. 

Disasters and high economic tag

Over the past decades, number of disaster events across the world have devastated many communities. According to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), over 600,000 people died, 4.1 billion people were injured, or became homeless and needed emergency assistance over the last two decades due to natural disasters. 

A recent trend is observed that the substantial investments in economy and social infrastructure, are increasingly damaged by disasters. CRED in its 2017 annual disaster statistical review highlighted that there were fewer natural disasters, deaths, and total people affected in 2017, however with the higher economic losses – almost 50% increase, compared to the previous decade (2007-2016).

The floods and landslides in May 2017 alone affected 15 of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, which lead to 203 deaths and 96 people missing, more than 9,000 houses destroyed or damaged and 75,000 people displaced. The Post Disaster Needs Assessment Report highlighted that the cost of 2017 floods and landslides (damages and losses) sum up to Rs. 70 billion, affecting the key sectors such as housing, agriculture, transport and industry and commerce. 

Sri Lanka is part of the global picture where the most populous Asian continent has endured the large portion of the impacts due to disasters in the past 20 years. Asian continent has recorded 85% of all affected people, 78% of reported economic damage, 62% of all disaster occurrences, and 69% of deaths. 

While this emphasises the regional and global approach to combat extreme climate events, the local actions are the key that can make a larger positive impact on the population vulnerable for emerging disaster and climate risks. The risk-sensitive development approach should become the heart of the community resilient building and sustainable development interventions, and driving vehicle for the policy-makers at local and national level. 

The role of local authorities in disaster risk reduction is far behind, who hardly have attempted to mobilise required resources well in advance for emerging disaster threats. The Municipalities and Urban Councils across the country have their own struggles to address day to day problems accumulating to larger crisis such as waste management and environmental protection. 

The recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Sulawesi, Indonesia reminded the world again the need for innovative new technologies for effective early warning systems and quicker response strategies. The resilience to disasters needs to be built-in within the social systems and processes, by developing new disaster and climate risk-sensitive development projects. 

It is also important to integrate as part of our routine work in all sectors and to make state, private, and civil society mechanisms to come together collectively to address the gaps effectively. 

 

Global disaster risk reduction policy and advocacy

The high rates of population growth, and natural resource degradation, with continuing high rates of poverty and food insecurity make South Asia one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change. 

The United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) with the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology for Disasters (CRED, Belgium) released a new report on ‘Economic Losses, Poverty & Disasters’, in line with the theme for the 2018 International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR). This year’s theme for the IDDR day is the Sendai Framework target (c) which seeks to “reduce direct disaster economic loss in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.” 

The 2015-2030 Sendai Framework has set seven global targets and four priorities for actions. The four priority actions include: understanding disaster risk, strengthening disaster risk governance, investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience, and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response.

Island threatened by new disasters

We encroached flood plains, coastlines, dry lands and other high-risk areas, which increases our exposure to natural hazards which becomes a complex humanitarian catastrophe. In Sri Lanka, we can’t forget other silent killers making the news headlines everyday in our media – many death due to road accidents every hour of the day, elephant conflict with socio-ecological systems, and deaths due to chronic kidney diseases. 

These enduring disaster events may have already surpassed the records of deaths due to three decades of war in our motherland ended in 2009. We may make our cities non-liveable to our next generation if we do not proactively address the root causes of these problems now. 





We seem to have built a sense of ‘not of my business’ culture to care for environment in our daily activities. On the other hand, political representatives elected to the local authorities fail to give greater attention to address the social and environmental problems happening around their electoral wards. 

Similarly, therein, our local authorities have failed to enforce the rigid laws and legal actions against the perpetrators, because sometimes the law enforcement entities and policy-makers are part of the problem and are the problems. 

Day of awareness for disaster risk reduction

The 13th of October is the day declared as an International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. The World Tsunami Awareness Day is next to come on 5 November, which was first introduced in 2016. The National Safety Day follows on 26 December to remember the 2004 tsunami disaster that claimed over 200,000 lives in 12 countries, including Sri Lanka. 

‘Do we do enough with remembering these days to prepare for the emerging disaster and climate risks?’ is a question every citizen needs to ask. We can talk, write, and debate. Yet, a lot to be done on the ground  by the people the most, to have some sense in what we do to be disaster and climate risk-sensitive, thinking twice before embarking any small action in our socio-ecological systems can make a huge difference and saves thousands of lives. 

We are yet to vision liveable cities and villages for the future of our children and the next generation of young people. Yes, the culture of politics is to blame, and we as responsible citizens of this island are also to be blamed for our irresponsiveness to elect the right representatives to make the right policy in the right time. 

We disturb nature by an inch and nature disturbs us by many hundreds of feet, and we are not capable of coping with its returns. Let us start small; from our own homes, from our own children, from our own schools and offices, and from wherever we interact with the environment, by educating ourselves to inherit a culture of disaster prevention and innovative actions for reducing disaster risk creation – this is the thought for the day.

(The writer is a PhD Scholar at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane and can be reached via saja.aslam@gmail.com.)