The era of hazard-by-hazard risk reduction is over. In our increasingly complex interconnected world, risk has become systemic, challenging single-hazard approaches, and governance mechanisms of established disaster risk management institutions. We need to reflect on the systemic nature of risk in how we deal with it. Systemic understanding of risk goes far beyond previous notions and concerns.

It was encouraging to see the National Science Foundation (NSF) has taken a timely move of organising a research conference on COVID-19. It was all about the impact, mitigation, opportunities and building resilience with a fitting theme ‘from adversity to serendipity’. The Postgraduate Institute of Management was so glad to be a strategic partner for this noteworthy endeavour and I was part of the steering committee of the conference, that was ably led by NSF Chairman Prof. Ranjith Senarathne.

A national conference titled ‘COVID-19: Impact, Mitigation, Opportunities and Building Resilience’ was held on the 27th and 28th of January 2021. The conference was organized by the National Science Foundation, Sri Lanka. As part of project activities, two abstracts titled: 1) ‘Settling the Ripples: An Examination of Sri Lanka’s Approach to Addressing Cascading Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic’ and 2) ‘Towards Broadening the Scope of Disaster Risk Reduction:

From ReliefWeb - Promoting the accessibility and application of science, technology, and research for enhanced multi-hazard early warning and disaster risk reduction, and supporting implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction towards 2030

International Symposium on Multi Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction(MHEW 2020) was held successfully during the period 14th to 16th December 2020 to promote availability and application of research, science and technology to promote implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and it was organized as a virtual event.

The International Symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction concluded with the adoption of the Colombo Declaration, which calls for greater efforts to accelerate the use of science, technology and data for policy formulation, and to promote an end-to-end multi-hazard approach to early warning.

International virtual symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction (MHEW and DRR: 2020) held for three days concluded yesterday (Dec 16) at Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH). Secretary of State Ministry of National Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management and Secretary of Defence Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne attended the closing ceremony as the Chief Guest.

From Flood Resilience Portal - This declaration was adopted at a recent "International Symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction" which brought together over 2,500 participants from the Sri Lankan government, private sector, non-governmental organisations and higher educational institutions. The declaration expresses deep concern at the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate related challenges and the continuing impact of disasters, resulting in an unacceptable loss of human lives and livelihoods, displacement of people and environmental and economic damages in Sri Lanka and across the world.

From PreventionWeb - This declaration was adopted at a recent "International Symposium on Multi-Hazard Early Warning and Disaster Risk Reduction" which brought together over 2,500 participants from the Sri Lankan government, private sector, non-governmental organisations and higher educational institutions. The declaration expresses deep concern at the growing frequency and intensity of extreme weather and climate related challenges and the continuing impact of disasters, resulting in an unacceptable loss of human lives and livelihoods, displacement of people and environmental and economic damages in Sri Lanka and across the world.

Paper supplement on Daily Mirror and the paper advertisement on MHEW 2020.

It is indisputable that Covid-19 is a tragedy, claiming thousands of lives and crippling economies and livelihoods worldwide. But in Sri Lanka, where the death toll and number of cases have been relatively and significantly low, does Covid-19 qualify as a disaster? We ask Prof. Dilanthi Amaratunga, Professor of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management at the University of Huddersfield, UK, and the Head of its Global Disaster Resilience Centre.

Professor Dilanthi speaks to the Sri Lankan Nespaper Aruna on multi hazard disaster preparedness