Harsha apologises for 'illegal' Colombo constructions
A Sri Lankan minister, during an international conference in Colombo, was sincerely apologetic and sad to note that one of the main causes for floods is corruption among some local politicians.
Merely to win local government elections, the politicians were approving house constructions often blocking canals.
These comments were made by Dr. Harsha de Silva, Deputy Minister, National Policies and Economic Affairs when he addressed the Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management (A-PAD) International Symposium on "Urban
Resilience: Building Inclusive and Competitive Cities amidst Disasters" held at Hilton Colombo last week.
Dr. de Silva said: "Particularly in places like Kolonnawa what we saw is that approvals have been obtained by these people with the support of local politicians and others to build homes physically on canals. I am sorry to say this."
He said that it is unfortunate that he had to talk about the disastrous garbage issue at Meethotamulla which is man-made and not a natural garbage mountain which had caused several deaths.
"So you have to address that issue not from a disaster mitigation point of view, but through good governance. I hope that we will be able to address that issue on a general application of good governance."
He said that looking at Colombo in the short term they need to invest in flood control with dams and other structures to help avoid mass flooding and in the longer term create large multiple reservoirs on the Kelani River to contain water before it reaches the downstream under a comprehensive programme on flood control.
He said that they talk about disaster management and building disaster resilience to ensure the people of this country are safe and able to lead a decent life in the context of what is happening around the world, especially climate change.
The government has taken great steps towards tackling issues pertaining to post-disaster issues - the kinds of disasters - tsunami, floods, landslides and droughts and the way the country's armed forces used their abilities in the face of disasters faced by the people was amazing and said that he saluted them for their efforts even at the risk of their lives.
Taking a few relevant issues - one in greater Colombo and other cities where hundreds of lives are lost in disasters in a matter of couple of hours and massive property destruction takes place -, he indicated that there are reasons for this, if one goes to the bottom of the issues because in many cases constructions have come up on river banks, reclaimed land on canal reservations and actually blocking canals.
Kenichi Suganuma, Japanese Ambassador in Sri Lanka, congratulated the armed forces of Sri Lanka and A-PAD Sri Lanka and the Pacific Region and others who have done an excellent job in handling disasters and rescue operations.
He noted that unfortunately Sri Lanka has been faced with several floods and landslides during the last three years and the theme of the meeting "Urban Resilience" is very relevant for Sri Lanka as Colombo is one of the fastest growing centres of the country.
He pointed to the need to address the issues like the water supply, sewerage and electricity. He referred to the garbage issue and particularly pointed at the tragedy of Meethotamulla garbage, stressing that cities becoming congested with the population density rising and that could lead to disasters.
Referring to Japan, he said that it also faced major disasters and on a priority basis took steps to avoid fatal damage by improving the infrastructure to prevent damage and maintain public administration work because if that stops the rescue operations will not go smoothly. He said that the experiences of their country could be shared to mitigate and avoid disasters in Sri Lanka.
Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Minister of Disaster Management, also spoke while Firzan Hashim, Country Director, Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management Sri Lanka wrapped up the symposium and made the closing remarks.