JICA energises Sri Lanka’s weather forecasting for a new direction

Saturday, 27 November 2021 01:32 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

From left: Senior Representative Kiyofumi Takashima, Chief Representative Tetsuya Yamada and Department of Meteorology Director General Athula Karunanayake

JICA Sri Lanka and Department of Meteorology have launched a project called ‘Project for Capacity Building of Meteorological Observation, Weather Forecasting and Warning Issuance by Utilisation of Weather Radars’ to streamline the current whether forecasting system in more user-friendly manner.

Under this project, JICA is providing technical expertise such as dispatching Japanese experts with necessary equipment to streamline the current typical weather forecast dissemination mode in Sri Lanka, whereas general public of Sri Lanka will be able to receive the real time weather information with geographical map into the smartphones through a simple mobile application.

This is an exciting experience for general public to observe the real time weather information, which will help them carry out day to day life and understand the risk of any possible weather hazards due to bad weather conditions.

This advanced system will be available for Sri Lankan people with the establishment of proposed two Weather Radars which will be setup at Puttalam and Pottuvil under JICA grant aid project, that costs approximately Rs. 4,412 billion (2.503 billion yen). The Weather Radar is the latest technology to gather very accurate weather information to be disseminated on real time weather forecasting.

The project also aims to support capacity building of meteorological staff in the department by providing technical training in Japan especially for operation and maintenance of Weather Radar technology and state-of-the-art technology for weather forecasting.

Record of discussion for the four-year (2022-2025) project was signed on 24 November by JICA Sri Lanka Chief Representative Yamada Tetsuya and Department of Meteorology in Colombo Director General Athula Karunanayake.

“Our prime objective and expectation of this project is to strengthening the weather forecasting facility of the Department of Meteorology in order to minimise the loss of economic damages in the country and eliminate loss of human life due to natural disasters,” said Yamada at the launching of the project.

Further, he emphasises that “no one can stop the natural disasters, but proper management practices and taking necessary mitigation measures for disaster risk reduction such as disseminating real weather information at the right time is the most appropriate way of preventing damages by natural disasters”.