Responding competently to natural disasters

ASIA and the Pacific is also the global region most prone to disasters. t's likely this situation will be considerably 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.

- By Jeevan Thiagarajah

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report highlights South Asia's vulnerability to climate change, predicting rising temperatures, more variable precipitation, and increasing intensity and frequency of natural hazards.

The geographical location of Sri Lanka makes the country prone to several natural hazards, mostly weather -and water-related, such as flooding, landslides, lightning, drought, tsunamis, etc. Sri Lanka's vulnerability to disasters stems from its high population density and economic activities, which are mainly concentrated in flood-prone and coastal areas.

The country is frequently placed among the top ten countries in the world in terms of vulnerability to climate catastrophes (German Watch, 2019 and 2020). Evidence of changing climate conditions across the island includes rising annual average mean temperatures, rainfall, and drought patterns, among other things, with the dry and intermediate (Dandl) zones, considered the island's agricultural heartland, being more vulnerable to climate change than the rest of the country.