• Stakeholders to discuss disaster mgt. mechanisms standardisation

The Ministry of Irrigation stated that it is planning to take measures to prevent potential disasters caused by the upcoming monsoonal weather, as most major tanks and reservoirs in the country have reached their maximum water levels with the recent showers.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, the Director General of the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), Major General (Retired) Udaya Herath, highlighted the gravity of the situation. “The water level is already at the maximum level as a result of the current weather condition. The country will get heavy rains with the upcoming monsoon”. Then certainly, the water level would rise up again. That is dangerous,” he said.  

He noted that the DMC has advised the Irrigation authorities to adopt precautionary measures to mitigate the risk of floods and other disasters in response to the situation. "We advised them to take suitable actions such as releasing a certain amount of water to avoid the risk," he said.

When contacted by The Daily Morning yesterday (2), the Deputy Minister of Irrigation, Dr. Susil Ranasinghe, assured that the authorities are closely monitoring the water levels of reservoirs on a daily basis and are aware of the potential risks. “We are already aware of the threat and we are currently monitoring the situation closely,” he said. 

Dr. Ranasinghe further revealed that the Ministry plans to meet with the stakeholders and relevant institutions in the coming days to strengthen the existing disaster management mechanisms. “We want to make a better mechanism to avoid unfavourable events that could happen in the future. Therefore, we are to meet the relevant authorities soon to obtain an understanding on how to standardise the mechanism that we currently have,” he added.  

The North-East monsoon season is from December to February.