The Hon. (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Speaker, I pay tribute to those who lost their lives in this great disaster and share the grief of families who lost loved ones. Disasters are not new to Sri Lanka: cyclones, droughts, epidemics, floods and landslides have occurred; in 2004 the Tsunami killed nearly 30,000. After that, the Disaster Management Act No. 13 of 2005 established the National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM), which must meet every three months. By now, it should have met about 80 times. But in the 13 years up to 2018, it met only 12 times – roughly once a year. After 2018, for seven years under your Governments, it has hardly met; only in August it met under the current President. Regardless of whether a disaster occurs, it must meet quarterly. This has not happened.

¶ 02 We must be prepared across mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Mitigation reduces risk. Yet, after every landslide in the hill country, displaced people were resettled back in the same unsafe places once the water recedes. We are seeing the consequences now. Preparedness was absent or minimal this time. Planning and drills were lacking. The Disaster Management Centre suffers severe staff shortages; vacancies are unfilled. There is no Deputy Director in any province. At DS division level there should be Disaster Management Officers; this has not been done – often just one officer per district.

¶ 03 Last Monday’s disaster management meeting proposed good steps, including amending the 2005 Act to suit current realities. But unless we address planning failures of successive governments across mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery, such disasters will continue to cause repeated losses. In my district, villages like Kandhasamy Village in Vavuniya are repeatedly affected year after year; likewise in Mullaitivu and Mannar. Do not resettle people again in the same places. Identify suitable locations and relocate to safer areas as a policy. With that request and thanks for the opportunity, I conclude.