Unfortunately, in Sri Lanka,. as in other places, we just keep seem to be relearning them after every disaster whether it be the 1978 Cyclone and Floods, the 2001-2 drought, the 2003 Floods and Landslides, the 2004 Tsunami and now this.

LESSONS:
1. Priority should be given to the regions that are most affected – not that is most accessible from Colombo.

2. Regions with minorities should not be neglected as happened in the Eastern Coast during the 2004 Tsunami and the 1978 Cyclone in Batticaloa – Eastern Sri Lanka.

3. The past history of floods and the lessons learned should be implemented – this includes better governance, zoning, and flood risk warning. All too often there are “lessons learned” after each disaster – which are repeated.

4. The performance of the International Agencies that collect aid should be monitored – they should be pressured to help develop local capacity to deal with disaster risk into the future.

5. There is a good framework for disaster risk management after the 2004 Tsunami. However, the local agencies have not upgraded their capacity for early warnings in a manner that was useful.
There should be more support for disaster risk reduction that works in actual practice particularly in the regional level.

5. There is a perverse set of incentives at work with the Disaster Industry – the more disasters there are, the more funding they get.

RESOURCES

1. The present flooding hazard exceeds many in the past. The rainfall
as pointed out here far exceeds that in the past.
See the details in the weekly report that is provided for Water Management in Sri Lanka at http://www.climate.lk
This report shall be updated weekly and special reports shall be provided.

2. The current flooding has been most severe in the East – see maps at
http://fectsl.wordpress.com/ . This has been a region with the most catastrophic impacts of the Tsunami – indeed the flooding in January 2005 – a year with only slightly higher than normal rainfall retarded relief soon after the disaster. See postings at
http://lareef.blogspot.com/2005_01_09_archive.html

4. The focus should be on vulnerability reduction – income and power inequalities in Sri Lanka militate against vulnerability reduction – see
http://issues.lines-magazine.org/Art_Feb05/Lareef.htm

4. The Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology (www.climate.lk) and a group of scientists at the University of Peradeniya, Mahaweli Authority and the Earth Institute at Columbia University mapped the seasons and regions where there are frequent floods in Eastern Sri Lanka during December-January – see
http://iri.columbia.edu/features/2007/sri_lanka_maps.html

War or Peace in Sri Lanka – TDSA Dissanayake(2004): ”In 1948, the basic qualification for citizenship for aliens anywhere in the world was five years as a permanent resident. For example the Burghers who migrated to Australia needed permanent residence of five years before becoming citizens of Australia. The plantation labour from South India had lived in Ceylon for 75 years or more. However all except those whose parents were born in Ceylon were disenfranchised in terms of The Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948. The seven Members of Parliament from the Ceylon Indian Congress suddenly lost their right to re-contest their seats in the next parliament.”