TSUNAMI HAS FORCED US TO RECEIVE COASTAL ZONE VERY DIFFERENTLY - PM

PRIME MINISTER Mahinda Rajapakse at the inauguration of the annual sessions of the Institute of Town Planners, Sri Lanka, on 'Aftermath of Tsunami - a Window of Opportunity to Redevelop the Coastal Zone of Sri Lanka, held at the World Trade Centre, Colombo recently said: the theme of this year's sessions is one that is immediately relevant for our country. The tsunami ravaged our coast, destroying so much life and property, and robbing so many thousands of families of their homes and livelihood. Surely this terrible experience compels us to see our coastal zone in a different light today. Prior to the tsunami, we looked at our coastal zone in a particular way, and planned its life and development on premises that are no longer valid.

"The tsunami has not merely given us an opportunity, but has in fact forced us, government and people, - to perceive our coastal zone very differently to how we had seen it before. As a government that is accountable to its people, it is our responsibility to guide and lead our people towards a new perception of the coastal zone, as a basis for the physical and social planning of its settlements that lie destroyed, and for ensuring the welfare of its people," said Premier Rajapakse.

"The coastal zone of our country is one that is vulnerable to natural diaster. But neither the government, nor the coastal communities, - nor for that matter, even our mainstream intellectual communities, - had seen the coastal zone in this way, - namely, as a vulnerable zone. It is vulnerable to the impact of cyclones. It is vulnerable to coastal erosion. It is vulnerable to the impact of rising sea levels - or 'sea level rise' as they call it. And now we know it is vulnerable to tidal waves as well. Unfortunately it needed the havoc and destruction of a tsunami to force us, - as a nation, - to see our coastal zone in a correct perspective".

"In doing so, and planning its economy, its settlements, and its infrastructure accordingly, the professional community of the country has a most important role to play: And, the town planner in particular has a key role to play in this process. The theme of your annual sessions shows that you have already started thinking on these lines. We must therefore congratulate you, and wish your sessions all success, the Prime Minister said.

Planning for the coast, - with 'disaster resistance' as its cornerstone, - needs team work and a multi-disciplinary approach. The activity needs the pooling of the intellectual resources and experience of economists, sociologists, town-planners, architects, engineers, geologists, other hard scientists, educationists and health care specialists, among a variety of others," he said.

To the government, the challenges in this regard are many. Let me share some of them with you, since we count on your advice to resolve them".

"One challenge concerns the design of houses. Do we have disaster resistant houses which are going to be very costly and therefore largely unaffordable? Or should we go along with Dr. Lochi Gunaratne's approach of planning 'disaster resistant communities' rather than 'disaster resistant houses'. He suggests that each local community should have one 'disaster resistant community structure' that can withstand any natural diaster, and to which the community can go for safety in the event of one. Likewise, a hotel complex that can comprise one 'disaster resistant structure' and hundreds of cabana type rooms for tourists".

"Another challenge concerns the planning of the economy of the disaster- prone coastal zone, - in particular the fishery. In what direction should it be encouraged to move? Should the present pattern of 'free access' to the sea be retained? Or should it be transformed in the direction of accessing the sea only from a limited number of well-protected landing centres, where safety facilities would be provided for fishermen and their equipment? How acceptable will this be to the communities themselves?"

"Yet another challenge relates to the road and railway network. Should the railway continue to run alongside a disaster-prone coastline? Should the present coastal roads remain to serve local settlements as well as local and foreign tourism, while high speed transport shifts to new highways away from the vulnerable coastline?"

There is also a challenge relating to natural resource conservation along the coast. It is our experience that where the mangroves, sand-dunes and coral reefs had been cut, broken or destroyed, the impact of the tsunami was much more severe. The re-establishment of these natural coastal resources and their long-term conservation, therefore require our urgent attention".

"These are all long term challenges. Their resolution comes through 'planning', which by its very nature is a long-term activity, and time-consuming as well. For us in government, the greatest challenge of all is how to balance these long-term imperatives with the immediate short-term ones. people cannot live in camps or in the overcrowded homes of their relatives. They have to be re-housed as fast as possible. Fishermen can't wait till their industry is re-structured. They have to go back to the sea as quickly as possible and regain their livelihood, for which they have to be given boats, nets and engines for the ones that were destroyed," Prime Minister Rajapakse said.

Thus, for all practical proposes, we have to balance long-term interests with immediate shorts term ones. And in doing so, we must remain guided, - strongly, - by the principles of social equity. The poorer segments of coastal society must not lose out to the rich, as a result of so-called 'rational planning'. This is a social imperative to which our government is strongly committed," the Prime Minister said.