Recognizing the necessity for greater investment in the planning process for disaster-resilient infrastructure across Asia and the Pacific, UNDP through its Regional Hub in Bangkok with the financial support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched the Project, ‘Resilient Infrastructure through Enhanced Knowledge’.
The Project will build the capacity of selected infrastructure sectors in four countries; namely Sri Lanka, Armenia, Cambodia and Fiji; to ensure that appropriate disaster-resilient measures are defined and applied into pre-disaster preparation for recovery and post-disaster recovery efforts.
Considering the importance of water and food security, Sri Lanka has selected the Irrigation sector to develop a comprehensive country-specific disaster recovery framework under this project. The activities will concentrate on supporting Post-Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) training to Government officials, utilizing contingency and recovery tools and plans, improve financial preparedness planning which will help to meet the resources required for disaster recovery and cover the additional costs of building forward better.
The Project is implemented in collaboration with the Disaster Management Center (DMC), the Department of National Planning, Department of National Budget and all stakeholder agencies in the Irrigation sector; including the Department of Irrigation, Department of Agrarian Development, 9 Provincial Departments of Irrigation and the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka.
The first training on Post Disaster Needs Assessment and Disaster Recovery Planning took place in Colombo recently, with over 63 participants from across the above stakeholders including Engineers, Planners and Accountants.
Speaking on the importance of such trainings, Director, Mitigation Research & Development, Disaster Management Centre Anoja Seneviratne said, “the Irrigation sector is one of the most important sectors in the country. Irrigation resilience is not only for water management, but also provides inputs for agricultural expansion, facilitates technological change and helps increase sectoral productivity and the GDP of the country…Introducing a disaster recovery framework will benefit the sector as it ensures recovery to build back faster and better.
This workshop will be the first of such to brainstorm, share knowledge in damage and loss and recovery in the sector following a more scientific way.” Seneviratne said, “This initial step will be foundational towards the country’s disaster resilience. I appreciate all the stakeholders for their engagement and appreciate the UNDP and ADB’s support for a cleaner, greener and resilient Sri Lanka.”
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