About Us

Having established the legal and institutional framework for disaster management in the country between 2005 and 2009, the disaster management community conceptualized and initiated the process of hazard profile development to promote mainstreaming disaster resilience in development. The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) with the financial and technical support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) serves as a coordinating body for the overall process of the preparation of hazard profiles of Sri Lanka. The resource persons were selected from the respective organizations of National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), Coast Conservation and Coastal Resource Management Department (CCCRMD), Irrigation Department, Meteorology Department and Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Peredeniya to contribute to the hazard profiles of Sri Lanka.

March in 2009, in a three day workshop, technical agencies responsible for different hazards along with key users of hazard information decided on the approaches and methods to develop different hazard profiles based on the nature of the hazard and data availability. Sri Lankan Universities, international experts from Asian Institute of Technology, SAARC Disaster Management Centre and UNDP Global Risk Identification Programme (GRIP) contributed to the methods development to ensure they are scientifically and in line with international standards. After four long years, today, the Sri Lanka disaster management community takes great pride in releasing the first version of the national hazard profiles covering coastal erosion, droughts, floods, landslides, lightning, sea level rise, storm surge, tropical cyclones and tsunami. These hazard profiles are expected to further strengthen the development planning, awareness and education, research, disaster insurance and risk transfer, eco-system based risk reduction and hazard based permitting and approvals in Sri Lanka as well the global knowledge.