Disaster management frameworks in Sri Lanka and compliance with global standards

Abstract

In the recent past Sri Lanka has experienced several significant natural disasters. At present, the DMC and all the line agencies focus on disaster management functions under the ministry of disaster management. The comprehensive disaster management program was prepared in 2014 and it is to be used up until 2018. Furthermore, it was proposed to identify mechanisms to integrate the Sendai Framework into the Sri Lankan national disaster management framework. However, during recent disasters, the DMC and the disaster management framework was under severe criticism from the public as well as the technical community. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate disaster management framework in Sri Lanka and its compliance with global standards. Initially an in-depth literature review was carried out to identify the terminology and existing local and international frameworks related to Disaster Management. Then the local frameworks were evaluated against seven criteria, which were identified after carefully analysing the requirements of the Sendai Framework. During this investigations several recent disaster incidents were referred as well. In addition, a case study was carried out to identify the status of some of the key components of coastal community resilience. Interviewing key professionals in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction in Sri Lanka and the focused group and panel discussions provided sufficient data for the analysis. Sri Lanka is in the process of aligning themselves with the Sendai Framework and Even though country lacks proper and efficient resilience mechanisms focused on the coastal communities, national efforts are underway to build up the coastal resilience. Training and public awareness campaigns, efficient funds, properly maintained hierarchy and concern to the coastal ecosystems are some of the enablers associated in building coastal resilience. Developing a multi-hazard map, improving the interagency cooperation, Use of social media to disseminate Early Warnings and focusing more on the development of a people-centered Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) are some of the recommendations given.