Disaster Management Planning (LK0033)

Ministry in charge of Disaster Management to identify, prepare, implement and monitor disaster management activities in a participatory manner
1st March 2019 – 31st August 2021
Lead implementing agency/actor Ministry in charge of Disaster Management; Disaster Management Centre
Commitment description
What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Sri Lanka’s weather and climate patterns have undergone significant changes since recent times and frequent disasters such as heavy rainfall, floods, landslides, droughts and lightning have increased. A considerable number of people, particularly from less affluent sections of the population, are adversely affected repeatedly by these natural disasters mainly due to inadequate preparedness at the ground level. Hazardous situations, life losses, and damage to property and infrastructure due to natural disasters have increased in the recent past. Increased vulnerability to disasters has imposed a considerable economic and social burden on citizens and a strain on relief and financial aid being provided.
What is the commitment? The Ministry in charge of disaster management and the Disaster Management Centre will engage with communities, affected persons and other stakeholders to identify needs, review the existing disaster preparedness plans, and prepare disaster management guidelines. Training will be provided to stakeholders on the implementation of the guidelines. Communities will also be engaged in the preparation of Disaster Preparedness Plans at District, Divisional and Grama Niladhari Division level. A system will be established to disseminate early warning messages. Community leaders will be provided early warning messages through SMS to be conveyed to rest of the community. Each Ministry will also undertake to prepare a comprehensive Disaster Preparedness Programme including Government response mechanism based on the District, Divisional and Grama Niladhari Division plans.
How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem? This commitment will enhance national readiness and capacity of communities to respond to natural disasters through the implementation of comprehensive disaster preparedness plans, disaster management guidelines and early warning systems. Hazardous situations, life losses, and damage to property and infrastructure due to disasters can be minimized thus reducing the burden of disaster impacts and communities and the government. Overall, community involvement in identification, preparation, implementation and monitoring of disaster mitigation actions will be an important factor in increasing the effectiveness of disaster management action and reducing the burden on citizens.
Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? This commitment promotes public participation as citizens are and provided opportunity to give inputs on crucial aspects that affect their lives and are also made to participate in the implementation of the plans. It also promotes access to information by the citizens.
Additional information This commitment strengthens and promotes the implementation of the Disaster Management Act of 2005; the recommendations and commitments in the Draft Sustainable Sri Lanka: Vision & Strategic Path and the Vision 2025; targets for disaster prevention and resilience in crosscutting Sustainable Development Goals.
Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Start Date: End Date:
1. Disaster Management Centre (DMC) will review the existing preparedness plans through a consultative process including affected parties, CBOs and other stakeholders. April 2019 September 2020
2. DMC will facilitate community and stakeholders to prepare Disaster Preparedness Plans at District, Divisional and Grama Niladhari Division levels. October 2019 June 2020
3. Disaster management guidelines will be prepared through a consultative process with marginalized/ vulnerable groups. Consultative meetings will be held with all stakeholders to identify the needs. The guidelines will be disseminated and training on the implementation of the guidelines will be provided to stakeholders. April 2019 November 2020
4. A system is established to effectively disseminate early warning messages to grass-root level communities. Early warning messages will be relayed via SMS to identified community leaders to be conveyed to other community members in the area. October 2019 June 2020
5. Based on the District Divisional and GN plans, a comprehensive Disaster Preparedness Programme including a government response mechanism is developed by each Ministry. July 2020 November 2020

10. Participatory Disaster Management

Verifiable: Yes

Relevant to Open Government: Yes

Potential Impact: Moderate

Completion: Not Started

There was no publicly-available evidence of progress on this commitment during the implementation period. The commitment has aimed to introduce comprehensive disaster-preparedness programs and public early-warning systems through a consultative review and redesign of existing disaster management guidelines by the Ministry of Disaster Management and stakeholders affected by natural disasters. The Ministry of Disaster Management noted that the occurrence of natural hazards increased by 22 times between 2006 and 2016. [54] Moving forward, the success of an early warning system would depend on the availability of messages in all three languages, and efforts to ensure that people without mobile phones or who are not digitally literate are alerted as well. Other modes of communication should also be considered to enable access for all.