11th Meeting of the Select Committee – 24 March 2005

Representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Mr Kamal Kishore, the Regional Disaster Reduction Advisor and Mr Ramraj Narasimhan, Consultant on Disaster Management along with Mr Jeff McMurdo, Programme Official, and Mr Robert Thomson, Consultant for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) made their presentations to the Select Committee.

Mr Kamal Kishore, Regional Disaster Reduction Advisor, UNDP presented a report titled ‘Towards Effective Early Warning System’. He started by saying that 90% of natural disasters worldwide were hydro meteorologically related and any early warning system should be focused on that. He also stressed the importance of having four key components - preempting, forecasting, communicating and acting - within such a system. Dwelling on his expertise he feels that the only way to survive a chaotic environment is through a complex yet adaptive system that provides relevant information to people on the ground. His presentation also drew examples from other countries that are prone to natural disaster and how they have adapted. Featured in his presentation was that although creating public awareness is an imperative, it is equally important for dissemination of information by scientists to be understood by the people affected.

Mr Robert Thomson, Consultant for IOM, made his presentation on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Sri Lanka in the context of the tsunami. He stated that coordination of all stakeholders within a disaster is important because a lack of it affects the long-term recovery and reconstruction of a country. He observed that the existing disaster management structure was too weak because it had no legal mandate and there was no national policy plan in place. He also spoke of the imbalance in the distribution of relief aid and that there was no consultation with the affected community with the issue of permanent settlement. He also stressed the need for the government to impose standards regarding the reconstruction phase and to also monitor and evaluate the quality of construction work. Speaking on IDP’s he stated that Sri Lanka had a unique problem to deal with, as both IDP’s from conflict zones and the tsunami zones require the same relief.