THE terrible floods that followed close behind the drought have left people weary of natural disasters and the government in need of a more proactive policy to contend with relief demands. Customarily, the government reacts when disasters take place, by providing cooked food and dry rations. While this is laudable, there are more sustainable steps that need to be taken to reduce the economic impact of disasters.

The growing incidence of natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific … threatens to undermine seriously rapid economic progress…. The conventional idea is that natural disasters come and go, that they are just an interruption to development, and that they can be dealt with after they strike. However, there is growing international recognition that the incidence and impact of natural disasters are increasing because of persistent poverty, population growth and climate change….Floods, landslides and drought have become systemic problems in Sri Lanka that clearly have a man-made element. The recent earthquakes reported in Ampara have raised concerns that development work in the region might be the cause. These are all reasons for more proactive policy decisions that take into account natural disasters as an economic challenge.

So far, very few countries have focused on the disaster risks in their economic development plans. Ignoring yearly cycles of drought, floods and other vulnerabilities means that responses to the disasters also remain inadequate. Already there are allegations that relief has not reached the displaced communities — putting the government on the defensive. Drawing disaster management into the larger discourse on development means that there will be greater readiness to deal with emergencies and also minimise the economic impact created by them. The drought together with the floods has impacted the country’s economic growth to an extensive degree but with no long-term policy initiatives in place it will simply become a recycled topic next year.—(Dec 22)