DISASTER INFORMATION SYSTEM IN SRI LANKA (DesInventar)

Institutional Arrangement In May 2005, the Government of Sri Lanka passed the Sri Lanka Disaster Management Act No 13 of 2005 in the Parliament The National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM) was established, as per the act In December 2005, the Ministry for Disaster Management was established. On January 2006, above Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Disaster Management & Human Rights with human right portfolio being added to the Ministry The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) was established under the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights as the lead agency on disaster risk management in the country in implementing the directives of ministry

DRM Programme Implementation Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights Disaster Management Centre District Secretaries & other line departments Other Ministries and Line Departments District Disaster Management Unit Divisional Secretaries & other line departments UNDP Programme Management Unit District Disaster Management committee Divisional Disaster Management committee GN Disaster Management committee Village volunteer Groups GN officers at GN level

What is Disaster Information System (DesInventar) A data collection methodology A preliminary analysis methodology A set of Software Tools Contexts As a Historical Disaster database As a Post-disaster damage & loss data collection tool

Data Collection Process Following aspects have been considered at commencement Definitions of hazards in the database Possible geographical limits / levels for data collection Sources of information

Hazards and Definitions More than 25 hazards have been covered under the data collection process in the beginning The DMC has coordinated with responsible government agencies and used their definitions for each hazard Data collection and entry in to the system has been done based on these definitions

Geographic Coverage In Sri Lanka there are four administrative levels, namely, 1. Province(9) 2. District(25) 3. DS Division(319) 4. GN Division(14009) Data were collected at Provincial, District and Divisional levels. It is planned to change the existing system in to District, Division and GN in due course

Data Sources : Media Reports Two newspapers (Daily News and Dinamina) published by the government institution, were selected for the data collection in the initial stage Data collection was completed in September 2006 Methodology for the data collection Recruited 10 university students as research assistant and trained them for data collection Newspapers were provided by the National Archives and National Library and Documentation Centre

Methodology for the data collection Relevant news paper articles were digitalized by research assistant using digital camera. Data cards were filled by research assistant as per the details given in the article All data cards and news paper articles are available in paper format as photocopies or printouts and preserved in the DesInventar archive unit at DMC.

Data Sources : Media Reports Advantages: Most data were captured through the media for the period of 1974 to 2006 (data available for long period) Disadvantage : Contain very little detailed information on impacts on infrastructure, agriculture, river flood protection systems, water supply, power and energy, communication, education, health and industry. Not detailed enough to describe impacts at lowest level Same event carry different dates

Data Sources : Government Weekly reports and historical disaster reports Situation and relief distribution reports Data has been collected in two ways, at national level and sub national level government agencies. Government Agencies at National level The following agencies were involved in the data collection process which was completed in April 2007: Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health Department of Social Services Department of Wildlife Conservation Department of Fire Services of the Colombo Municipal Council National Building Research Organization Department of Census and Statistics

Data Collection from Government agencies at national level One agency in respect of each sector has been identified Well trained research assistants(3) were utilized for data collecting Special data collection formats and digital cameras were used by them All data is available in paper format as photocopies or printouts and preserved in the DesInventar archive unit

Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health

Department of Wildlife Conservation

Department of Fire Services of the Colombo Municipal Council

Government agencies at sub national level: phase -1 Sub national level data validation started as two different phases First phase data collection commenced in 12 Districts with the assistance of government officers. The process was completed in May 2007 Developed specific data collection format and distributed for DDMC unites Arranged consultation meeting with DDM Coordinators and awareness created on the DesInventar, data collation format and data collection process

Government agencies at sub national level: phase - 2 Second phase of data validation at sub national level commenced in October 2007 with assistance of various government organizations Data collation format was distributed to selected officers at the meeting and given two months period for the data collection DesInventar associate attended meetings and visited the DS divisions in each district to monitor data collection process Social services officer was selected from district secretariat and divisional secretariat for data collection

Kegalle Matale Data Collection from Government agencies at sub national level : Phase -2 Anuradhapura Badulla

How we received data from agencies at sub national level: Eg - Flood

How we received data from agencies at sub national level: Eg - Landslide

Validation Methods Data from media sources were validated comparing with government data collected from national and sub national level agencies Identified the agencies responsible in respect of each sector and disaster event for the data validating and collecting process. Epidemics - Epidemiology Unit Animal attack - Department of Wild Life Conservation General/ human life/housing/livelihood affected - District Secretariat and Divisional Secretariat Original copies, data cards (data collection format), and well trained people were used in the data validation process. A filing system is being maintained in the DesInventar archive unit including all the data cards with original sources in paper format.

DesInventar Archive Unit in the DMC

Data Entry Data entry at national level is still taking place Data entry operators have been recruited with support of UNDP and well trained for data entering. The database was shared through the internal network and data was entered in to the system through the network. More than data records are available in the existing database associated with 25 different types of disasters

Analysis A preliminary analysis for the entire country was done in June Preliminary analytical report was launched by the Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights However, a detailed analysis must be done in each district, based on which DMC and other agencies can prioritize their activities in each district.

Dissemination of Disaster Loss Information The first stakeholder consultation workshop was held in October 2006 Second stakeholder workshop was held in June 2007.

Dissemination of Disaster Loss Information The Disaster Information System in Sri Lanka was launched by the Secretary, Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights on June The Disaster Information System was officially launched online in June 2007 with a link on the DMC website (

Sustainability of the Disaster Information System in Sri Lanka Several activities have been carried out to address following issues at sub national level Strengthening existing incident reporting system: Introduced common format for incident reporting in the disaster situation and post disaster situation How to use DesInventar for DRM activities: Training and awareness programmes were arranged on DeInventar for Selected government officers in 20 districts. Hazard profile is developing for using Desinventar in each district. Infrastructure facilities for updating the system: All relevant equipment including software was provided to all Districts after the completion of the data validation and relevant training. Internet facility also has been provided to these districts to update the database directly through website. All these data is accessible to any person and any such person could use them freely

Sustainability of the Disaster Information System in Sri Lanka First national level DesInventar training workshop was held in October More than fifty officers selected from national and sub national level government agencies were trained at the workshop.

Sustainability of the Disaster Information System in Sri Lanka Second national level DesInventar training workshop was held in June Nearly fifty government official trained from selected nine districts, DDMCU staff, UN volunteers and Data Entry Operators were trained.

Sustainability of the Disaster Information System in Sri Lanka Computers and the DesInvantar database have been provided to nine Districts after the completion of the data validation and training.

Kalutara Anuradhapura DesInventar training workshops in sub national level Batticaloa Kandy

Future Plans Change existing administrative levels including GN level as a lowest level Second edition of the national analysis report to be produced by December 2009, which includes more details on sub national level descriptions of trends as well as explanations Partnerships with government agencies and universities to produce the district wise analyses and report. Awareness and capacity building for the District and Divisional level officials Strengthen the existing incident reporting system with the support of government officials, school children and volunteer groups. Expand the existing database: Include road accidents and non communicable deceases

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