Government’s proactive plan pays dividend to disaster victims

By M. Ali Hassen

Dept. of Government Information

The recent floods, landslides and the inclement weather brought havoc, especially in the Western Province and the Kegalle District. The immediate aftermath of such a calamity is carrying out rescue operations and to provide cooked meals to the affected people.

Sri Lanka, despite the fact that it was previously perceived as country not prone to natural disasters, in its recent history has faced many natural disasters such as cyclones, floods, tsunamis and landslides. During all these disasters the Government moved into action through the respective Government Agents supported by Grama Sevakas, tri-forces, Police, social service organisations and philanthropists to provide immediate relief to the affected people.

The immediate relief activities in the past by the State mainly contained the provision of cooked meal and the grant of Rs. 10,000 to next of kin of those who lost their lives. The cost incurred for cooked meals by the Government was Rs. 150 per day. Further, the compensation paid for houses and properties destroyed/damaged was trivial. The maximum compensation paid in the event of a complete destruction of a house was Rs. 100,000 and the partially damaged properties were paid only Rs. 40,000.

Bureaucratic red tape precludes issuing of provisions to those who are not in the displaced centres for the purpose despite instruction given to ignore circulars and regulations. It appears that still the dry rations are being provided by the Government only to those who are in the displaced centres. According to the Disaster Management Centre, as of 25 May, little over 221,000 people are housed at 265 welfare centres and until they return to their houses they will be looked after by the State.  The generous assistance by civil society and religious organisations goes beyond the reach of the Government in extending a helping hand to the victims.

But the new Government of good governance realising all the weaknesses in the system with the aim of facing the reality in times of crises has made a proactive action plan to rescue the people from such catastrophes. It’s good to note that new proactive plan has already paid dividends to the people affected by the recent natural disaster.

Minister of Finance Ravi Karunanayake said the Government took the initiative to obtain an insurance coverage for the entire island to take care of the people and their properties and small uninsured business places. This National Natural Disaster and Emergency Relief Insurance, the first of its kind in the country, provides an aggregate cover of Rs. 10 billion for a year with National Insurance Trust Fund (NITF), a regulatory body under the Finance Ministry itself. The NITF has the backing of international reinsurers.

Thanks to this insurance policy, over 400,000 people who were affected by the recent disaster are to be benefitted immensely, which was not seen in the past. President Maithripala Sirisena initiating a Presidential Task Force on the subject directed the General Treasury to release the required funds for relief measure without any restrictions. Accordingly, the cost of cooked meal given to displaced person immediately after the incident by the respective Divisional Secretaries was increased from Rs. 125 to Rs. 250 per day. The compensation on the demise of a person has now been increased from a mere Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 100,000. The property damages are being estimated but the Government is already on record saying that a fully damaged house will be paid an amount between Rs. 100,000 and Rs. 2.5 million. In the past the maximum that could be paid was Rs. 100,000 for a fully damaged house.

There is a new phenomenon now in the country – the involvement of the media institutions that distributed goods donated by the public. People handed over these items to the media institutions, because they did not know where else to take them. In many relief centres, these media institutions refused to hand the items to the Government authorities because they needed the publicity. Their banners only showed their own logos. There was no mention about the public that donated the goods. The media was more serious about getting voice cuts to the effect that it was their media that first reached the village on every occasion.

Though the role played by the media in times of crisis cannot be criticised or underestimated, there exists an important query as to whether the media has done its social responsibility as a responsible media. Because of this lacuna, the people – both the affected and the donors – could not get a real assessment of the situation. Even the Government message did not get across properly. That is why the Divisional Secretaries had to appeal to the people not to bring food items as it was oversupplied. While the large business entities which have insurance cover for their establishments can make claims from their respective insurers, the village level small shops are otherwise left in the lurch during crises of this nature. The Government has well thought of the plight of these people and got them included under this mass insurance cover to pay compensation to these uninsured boutiques and eateries. 

In spite of the fact that the Government has embarked on a crisis management plan with an insurance policy for Rs. 10 billion in a proactive manner, the lopsided ideas emerging from various corners suggest that there is no such a plan in place, which is not true. A Divisional Secretary (DS) who wanted to be anonymous said that however much the political authorities proclaim that the circulars and regulations should not be considered when it comes to relief, it was not possible without a circular to that effect. “Even now only those who are in the displaced camps are provided with relief by the DSS,” he quipped. But on the other hand, he said that the new measures introduced by the Finance Ministry with the back-to-back insurance cover is a huge opportunity for the poor people living in the DS divisions in the affected areas. This is an unprecedented move with enhanced facilities and compensation not only for the houses but the smaller businesses as well.

Apart from the loss and damages to persons and properties, there is a need to look into reconstruction, rehabilitation, education, child protection and welfare, and recovery of livelihoods and to care for other infrastructure facilities such as roads and schools. The Government needs to incur a lot of expense on this. That is why a general call for assistance was made to friendly countries. It is with this idea that the Government reached out to the world, seeking assistance to help over 425,000 people affected by the flood and landslides. The Disaster Management Ministry in a public appeal released information of a special bank account open for both local and foreign donations. The Government also announced that it had decided to waive the import duty slapped on all goods that are being sent to Sri Lanka as flood relief. Sri Lanka appealed for foreign aid to recover from massive floods that caused an estimated $ 2 billion worth of damage and claimed more than 100 lives. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said 35,000 homes were damaged in the floods triggered by the heaviest rain, with the capital Colombo the hardest hit. Karunanayake expected foreign countries would foot about 75% of total reconstruction costs.

But although there is a humanitarian aspect to look into under this natural devastation, the rampant construction in low-lying parts of Colombo that had been designated as storm water collection points and the filling of marshlands haphazardly could identify it as a manmade disaster rather than a natural disaster.