Deciphering the decision-making realities: Dedication amidst a disaster

WE are recovering from one of the severest natural disasters.

- By Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri

Mother Lanka is in massive pain. Leaders together with all are still in action towards wellbeing of people. Decision making under crisis situations could be confusingly complex unless handled with the needed clarity and commitment. Today’s column reflects crisis decision-making on a global scale with implications to Sri Lanka.Overview

The recently published UNDP report highlights the stark reality facing Sri Lanka. Their analysis, which draws from disaster related data from the Government of Sri Lanka, provides a nationwide picture of the cyclone’s impact, which is being termed as one of the worst flooding disasters to hit Sri Lanka in decades. Over half of the people in the flooded areas were living in households already facing multiple vulnerabilities before the cyclone, including unstable income, high debt, and limited ability to cope with disasters. Under these conditions, even moderate shocks can turn into long-lasting setbacks.

As the UNDP report further states, the floodwaters reached nearly 720,000 buildings, about one in every twelve buildings in the country. Over 16,000 kilometres of roads, enough to circle the island’s coastline more than twelve times, were exposed to flooding. Similarly, over 278 km of railway tracks and 480 bridges were located in flooded areas.

One essential requirement in crisis situations is sensible decision making and speedy implementation. I found the insights from an article by Louise K. Comfort of University of Pittsburgh, Naim Kapucu of University of Central Florida, Kilkon Ko of Seoul National University, Scare Menoni of Politecnico di Milano and Michael Siciliano of University of Illinois at Chicago, primality in response to COVID-19 are much relevant today.

Decision-making in uncertain conditions