Sri Lanka managed post-tsunami stage effectively - Ministry Secretary

Sri Lanka managed the post-disaster phase in a better way than the other countries who faced this situation. The victims were saved from epidemics and were not left unattended thereby minimising psychological trauma.

They were resettled in reasonable transit accommodation which gave us time to plan the future phase, saidHousing and Construction Ministry Secretary P. Weerahandi at a Workshop on "Good Practices for Formulating Guidelines for Sustainablility in Post-Tsunami Reconstruction" held at Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo recently.

This workshop was organised by the Tsunami Housing Support Project/German Technical Co-operation (THSP/GTZ) with the assistance of TAFREN.

The people, State organisations, NGOs, INGOs, Donors, Community Based Organisations, did everything possible to address the immediate needs in the recovery process.

It is quite obvious that in a major catastrophe such as tsunami, particulary when it happened to a nation like us where no disaster preparedness was considered important prior to the event, that everybody acts emotionally and try to put things back into order in the best manner that they think right.

The objective of the Workshop is to formulate general guidelines for Community-centred Transdisciplinary Integrated Planning (CTIP) for Sustainable Post-Tsunami Reconstruction Activities.

The Institutions engaged in the tsunami construction process such as Housing and Construction Ministry, Urban Development and Water Supply Ministry, Reconstruction and Development Agency, National Housing Development Authority (NHDA), Urban Development Authority (UDA), National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB), Universities, Donor Agencies, International Non-governmental Organisations participated in this workshop.

Most importantly we must give the maximum possible benefit to the victim communities by involving them in reconstruction work, which will not only improve their income but also their skills thus opening new livelihood means.

Also we must try to inject the appropriate part of the investment to the local industries involved in the reconstruction process to improve the industry too. It should be participatory with as many as possible stakeholder involvement with victim communities in the centre thereby ensuring the sustainability.

I am glad to learn that the current exercise aims at such an integrated plan ensuring sustainability through a transdisciplinary consultative approach.

We would be able to agree upon a common plan for the next phase of the post-tsunami reconstruction programme of Sri Lanka.

Programme Director (Housing) of TAFREN, Ramesh M. Sellaiyah, GTZ, Advisor Hilki Ebert and Piyal Ganepola also addressed the workshop.