Friday, 1 August 2014 00:00
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Drought has been steadily engulfing the country for many months but outside of basic responses such as providing water to the thousands of affected people, little has been done to offset the impact in any sustainable manner. Little attention is being provided to estimated 41,568 families in Polonnaruwa and another 21,000 families in Monaragala that are reported to be the most affected by the lack of water.
Many of them are farming families and while a stark subsistence can be eked out for them the economic impact of ruined crops has not been dealt with in any competent manner. Getting adequate funds, providing crop insurance along with long term measures such as improving climate-resistant crops, improving biodiversity and putting in place competent policies are still wanting.
Despite decades of dealing with droughts they continue to plague the country. For example, the drought in 2012 reduced growth from the projected 7.2% to 6.7%. Estimates of the damages were not comprehensively released but it is likely they were in the millions or possibly billions and severely felt by all people. Losses of State-run Ceylon Electricity Board and Ceylon Petroleum Board (CPC) sky rocketed. The result was power cuts and increased electricity prices.
Unfortunately, the Budget for 2014 made no structural changes to the CPC, CEB or Water Board to ensure that mismanagement, wastage and corruption is reduced to make the institutions more economically sound. Everyone got away with better balance sheets in 2013 because the rain gods were kind but it is looking more and more like 2014 could be a rerun of 2012 and little or no preparation has been made.
Rampant corruption is also a problem. Weekend newspapers reported of 700 acres of forest in the north cleared illegally by a businessmen under a permit from the Road Development Authority (RDA), which they insist is fake. But it’s just a drop in the challenges of vast procurement of land for development projects irrespective of environmental damage.
Disaster management is similar to disaster mitigation; however it implies a whole-of-Government approach to using community resources to fight the effects of an event and assumes the community will be self-sufficient for periods of time until the situation can be stabilised. This is especially important as farmers will be the first and worst hit. Already 45,000 acres of paddy are reported to have been devoured by drought.
Through disaster management, one cannot completely counteract the damage but it is possible to minimise the risks through early warning, provide developmental plans for recuperation from the disaster, generate communication and medical resources, and aid in rehabilitation and post-disaster reconstruction. The exchange of correct information during and following the event is important, in order to ensure the resources necessary to support response and recovery activities are made available.
Conservation of rainwater, a drought fund and providing farmers with new drought-resistant crop varieties are all activities that need prior planning. The fact that the drought takes place in a year that holds elections means that the disaster will be taken over by politics. Such predictions do not bode well for thousands of families who depend on agriculture for their main livelihood.
As the numbers show, the human and economic cost of disasters continues to pose challenges to Sri Lanka’s disaster management system. But it would seem that previous lessons have been for naught.
