srilankanparliamentonnaturaldisasters

Sixth Meeting of the Select Committee - March 7, 2005

Issues of land use and disaster management were taken up at the sixth meeting of the Parliament Select Committee on Natural Disasters.

The Director of the Land Use Policy Planning Institute made several recommendations to the Select Committee on how to mitigate natural disasters; one of which was the importance of implementing a proposed national land use policy. He also stressed the necessity of preparing scientifically based zoning plans for land use - demarcating separate zones for residential, agricultural and other areas. The misuse of land, he said, along with the destruction of natural buffers like mangroves have led to an increase in the magnitude of natural disasters.

Mr Nishantha Kamaladasa, Director of the Centre for Housing, Planning and Building and the Director of Sri Lanka Multi Hazard Disaster Mitigating Project, drew on his wide experience in disaster management for his presentation. He spoke on the basic paradigms of a natural disaster and the need to have a coordinated disaster management mechanism in place. He also spoke of the vital role the media played in the aftermath of the tsunami through the dissemination of news and the role it can play in the future. He stated that the three key means of mitigating a disaster are detection, judgment and implementation.

Mr R M S Bandara, Deputy Director General of Land Resettlement, focused on the threat landslides pose to the country. His department is working on a strategy to minimise the occurrence of landslides and study potentially vulnerable areas. He said the objective of any disaster prevention mechanism was to study, analyse and recommend the evacuation of people living in natural disaster prone areas.

In addition, representatives of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and the IOM (International Organization of Migration) attended the hearings.