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A-PAD BULLETIN

FEBRUARY– MARCH 2015

Asia and the Pacific is the global region most prone to disasters. It’s likely this situation will be consider-ably aggravated by climate change. Four environmental disruptions induced by climate change are of particular concern in Asia and the Pacific: sea-level rise and storm

surge, cyclones and typhoons, riparian flooding, and water stress. In an era when the frequency of disasters has reached signifi-cant proportions, the loss to lives,

property and sustainable livelihoods needs to be minimized. A cohesive and a planned response through effective partnership in serving those affected is paramount. This context is the platform of response of A-PAD. A-PAD’s potential – as both an actor in disaster manage-

ment and mitigation, as well as oth-er broader prospects – i.e. looking beyond the disaster aspect -contributing to the greater good via broader humanitarian activity. The impressive growth and interna-tional recognition achieved by the alliance within a very short span, bears testimony to its importance and potential. I strongly believe this alliance will address the void in partnerships between not-for-profit organizations and the private sector in disaster response and mitigation. The exchange of knowledge amongst countries in the region in disaster management will further strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction initiatives.

The virtue of embracing the efforts of not only NGOs but also corporates, individuals and communities

Following the torrential rains of December 2014 which caused the massive overflow of reservoirs and other water bodies onto land, destroying livelihoods and taking many a life, A-PAD began relief activities in the region, supplying aid to families, schools and the six-hundred-plus welfare centres that mushroomed as a result of

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Central Finance Company PLC Assists Flood Affected School with Help of Cargills (Ceylon) PLC in Mannar through A-PAD

Post Disaster Response

A United Corporate Front for Humanitarian Assistance

Jeevan Thiagarajah Executive Director of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies and the National Representative for A-PAD Sri Lanka.

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Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Manage-ment (A-PAD) Sri Lanka was estab-lished in August 2014, supported by A-PAD Management Office Japan. This plat form brings together, private sector, government, service organizations and civil society, in humanitarian re-sponses and devel-opment activities.

Six months since A-PAD SL was established, the plat-form has supported four emergency relief operations in Sri Lanka with con-tributions from its parent organization A-PAD Japan and its national members.

A-PAD SL is facilitat-ed by Consortium of H u m a n i t a r i a n Agencies (CHA) and Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) with a growing membership of pri-vate sector and non-governmental organ-izations.

what was a catastrophe of colossal proportions. A‐PAD SL in liaison with Disaster Management Centre and Ministry of Disaster Management assessed the priority-needs and shared them with A‐PAD SL members. Through the A-PAD platform in Sri Lanka, the Central Finance Company assisted 114 students of Thambanaikulam Government Tamil Mixed School in Mannar District, one of the worst hit schools in the area. 2913 exercise books and 114 pairs of shoes were distributed to the primary school consisting of 114 school children

between the ages of 5 to 10 years.

A-PAD SL coordinated with Cargills (Ceylon) PLC, an active member of A‐PAD SL, in providing transport for the delivery of school books and shoes donated by Central Finance PLC. Cargills provided transport free of charge as a CSR activity.

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Following the destructive torrents at the latter part of last year Ceylon Biscuits Ltd (CBL) supplied two large consignments of biscuits through A-PAD SL to be distributed amongst the affected districts. 1000 boxes, each containing 48 packets of biscuits, were donated and were continually distribut-ed to the displaced families in camps in 9 districts in liaison with Disaster management Centre and Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) following the floods. The flood affected populace

in Puttlam, Matale, Kandy, Badulla, Ku-runegala, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Mannar and Polonnaruwa benefitted from the 40, 000 plus biscuit packets that were generously donated by CBL. Feedback from the Ministry of Disaster Management, District Secretariats and the displaced population, especially the children, was overwhelming. Camp management officials complimented the contribution which in most occasions was a stop gap meal.

Of these, 1344 of the biscuit pack-ets were recently distributed among the school children of Thambanai-kulam in Mannar, along with the shoes and school books from the Central Finance Company PLC.

9 Districts Benefit from Magnanimous Contribution of Ceylon Biscuits PLC through A-PAD, to Flood-Affected

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Of the 22 districts affected by floods, Batticaloa district was the worst affected. Approximately 500,000 people from the Batticaloa district were directly affected. With assistance from A‐PAD Japan, CHA pro-vided dry rations for 291 severely affected families. Items such as rice, green gram, milk powder, tin-fish, sugar and dhal were packaged and distributed by the A-PAD to 3 DS Divisions in the Batticaloa District.

A‐PAD Food Assistance to Flood Affected Families in Batticaloa

Subsequent to a needs assessment conducted in Jaff-na by CHA Colombo earlier this year, it was observed that there was a scarcity of drinking water due to ground water contamination and drought. Following a request from the Deputy Director of the Dis-aster Management Centre in Jaffna, Mr Ravi Sangarapillai, A-PAD was successful in supplying 20 water tanks to several villages in Jaffna such as Udu-vil, Thellipalai, Changaanai and Sandilippai which were affected by ground water contamination. 30 more tanks have been approved and will be delivered shortly.

Provision of Water Tanks in Jaffna

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Over 40, 000 distinguished delegates from

a multitude of countries attended the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which was held from 14 to 18 March 2015 in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. Mr Firzan Hashim, the Deputy Executive

Director of the Consor-tium of Humanitarian Agencies of Sri Lanka, and Mr Chandraratne Vithanage, the Senior Assistant Secretary General of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce represented A-PAD Sri Lanka. The 2015-2030 Sendai framework for Disaster

Risk Reduction was presented to other country representatives, and four priority areas of namely, understanding disaster risk, strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk, investing in disas-ter risk reduction for resilience, enhancing

disaster preparedness for effective response, and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction, were highlighted. With an outlined focus of 15 years, the conference shed light on both the issue and the goal and an eventual outcome of substantial reduction in disaster damage and disaster mortality. 150 intergovern-mental and multi-stakeholder events were held with over 350 side events were organized in the public forum Moreover the conference was eco-friendly and the encouraged use of electronic transfer of information saved an estimated ten million pages-worth of documents from being unnecessarily printed- an equivalent

A-PAD Representation at the Third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction Held in Sendai, Japan

Innovations to Achieve Disaster Risk Reduction, Response and Reconstruc-

tion Beyond Sectors and National Borders

The side event ‘The Forefront of Disaster Response with Private Sector Partnership: Innovations to Achieve Disaster Risk Re-duction, Response and Reconstruction Beyond Sectors and National Borders’ con-

ducted by the Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management (A-PAD) for the benefit its members from across the globe who were visiting Japan for the Sendai Conference on DRR, was held on the 14th of March.

The concept was to initiate a dialogue between the participants on effective cross-sector and cross-border collaboration mechanisms in preparation of impending disasters in the Asia Pacific Region.

The forum was held in two parts. Session 1 and Session 2 were interactive with speakers representing the A-PAD platform from various countries presenting on various topics. Mr Chandrarat-ne Vithanage, who

represented the platform in Sri Lanka, spoke of the emergency response and reconstruction assistance through the busi-ness enterprise lens.

The concept of A-PAD and its regional partnership was highlighted during the forum. This is an existing platform which brings together the private sector, civil society and the government in disaster management.

A-PAD Public Forum on the Forefront of Disaster Response with Private Sector Partnership:

No. 86, Rosmead Place, Colombo 07.

Tel: 011—4061461 /Fax: 011—4061461 E—mail: info@cha.lk

For further information, please contact Svetlana Abeysekara on info@cha.lk