Rs. 145 million invested for disaster mitigation - Disaster Management Minister

Sri Lanka is receiving international support to create a culture of safety among all communities and the ministry has invested Rs. 145 million for disaster mitigation, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

In his National Safety Day message he said:

With the establishment of the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry and the Disaster Management Centre, we have achieved a remarkable progress in preventing and mitigating disasters, especially natural disasters. This helped us create an environment fortified with pillars of safety, despite the increased occurrence of natural disasters due to climate change and other possible factors.

We have taken several measures at national and sub national levels. Preparation of 10 year road map for risk management in Sri Lanka, drafting the National Policy on Disaster Management, establishment of co-coordinating mechanisms in place at national, district, divisional and village levels to encounter all types of disasters are a few among them. The programs have contributed tr- emendously in reducing risk levels of vulnerable population. Statistics of recent disasters clearly show the damage to life and property has declined dramatically. Our Ministry invested over Rs. 145 million this year on regional level disaster mitigation initiatives under the Mahinda Chinthana development program to realise the objectives towards a safer Sri Lanka.

Our Ministry took initiatives to obtain the support from all local and international organisations who directly and indirectly involved in disaster management activities. Disaster Risk Reduction and better response capacity.

Our Ministry was able to obtain considerable assistance from countries such as Japan, Italy, Korea, Netherland and United Kingdom with the objective of creating a culture of safety among all communities and to introduce best practices in disaster risk reduction amongst our people.