Role of the Navy in Disaster Management in Sri Lanka
CHAPTER 4
Role of the Navy in Disaster Management in Sri Lanka The role of the Navy is clearly defined in the Navy Act (1950). This chapter describes the more general roles pertinent to the seaward defence of the island nation and the Aid to civil power activities. The views of the three focus groups selected for data collection are discussed in detail. A critical analysis is carried out in qualitative terms regards to the actual disaster management system that exists in the country and the role that should be played by the Navy in disaster management in Sri Lanka.
4.1 Navy’s general role Role of the Navy is to;
a. Conduct sustained operations at Sea according to the policies of government.
b. Provide Maritime security to island nation.
c. Safeguard coastal, offshore facilities and maritime interests of Sri Lanka Navy.
d. Aid to Civil Power.
Assisting government organizations in disasters fall in to the category of Aid to civil power and Navy has many resources both human and material that could be utilized in managing disasters. This has been effectively demonstrated in the recent past in which Sri Lanka faced disasters one after the other. The main concern of the Armed forces, which gets involved in Disaster Management is that, it can get things done much faster but the bureaucratic procedures generally stop them or retard them in their action. In all disaster related activities Armed forces has to act with the District civil authorities such as Government Agent or Secretary to the district. The activities are to be coordinated with them which are causing delay.
4.2 Identifying Naval role
In order to identify the Navy’s role researcher targeted three focus groups from which data would be collected. Those were the officials of National Disaster Management Organization, tsunami affected persons in Kalutara district and Naval Authorities which handled tsunami related activities. These three factions are directly related to the researcher’s
Role of the Navy in Disaster Management in Sri Lanka The role of the Navy is clearly defined in the Navy Act (1950). This chapter describes the more general roles pertinent to the seaward defence of the island nation and the Aid to civil power activities. The views of the three focus groups selected for data collection are discussed in detail. A critical analysis is carried out in qualitative terms regards to the actual disaster management system that exists in the country and the role that should be played by the Navy in disaster management in Sri Lanka.
4.1 Navy’s general role Role of the Navy is to;
a. Conduct sustained operations at Sea according to the policies of government.
b. Provide Maritime security to island nation.
c. Safeguard coastal, offshore facilities and maritime interests of Sri Lanka Navy.
d. Aid to Civil Power.
Assisting government organizations in disasters fall in to the category of Aid to civil power and Navy has many resources both human and material that could be utilized in managing disasters. This has been effectively demonstrated in the recent past in which Sri Lanka faced disasters one after the other. The main concern of the Armed forces, which gets involved in Disaster Management is that, it can get things done much faster but the bureaucratic procedures generally stop them or retard them in their action. In all disaster related activities Armed forces has to act with the District civil authorities such as Government Agent or Secretary to the district. The activities are to be coordinated with them which are causing delay.
4.2 Identifying Naval role
In order to identify the Navy’s role researcher targeted three focus groups from which data would be collected. Those were the officials of National Disaster Management Organization, tsunami affected persons in Kalutara district and Naval Authorities which handled tsunami related activities. These three factions are directly related to the researcher’s
Bibliography: Carter W. Nick, Disaster Management, A disaster Manager’s hand book, Asian Development Bank, 1992 Dissanayake C.B., seminar on “Tsunami and the impact on Sri Lanka”, Department of Geology, University of Peradeniya, 15th January 2005. Doak Carey Cox, Progress in tsunami research, 1960-62, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics., University of Hawaii, 1963 Eikenberg C Herath S., Information Technology Tools for Natural Disaster Risk Management, United Nations University, 1999 Loudon and Loudon, Management Information Systems, Prentice Hall, 2003 Mittler Elliott, A case study of Florida 's emergency management since Hurricane Andrew, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado, 1998 Sri Lanka Navy, Naval History Book, 2002 U.S. Government, 21st Century Complete Guide to FEMA - Federal Emergency Management Agency by Progressive Management, 2004 U.S Web Sites and online documents Basaen, I., Contribution to the UN-ISDR’s online discussion on the Draft Framework to Guide and Monitor Disaster Risk Reduction, www.unisdr.org, 2003. Benouiar, D. Contribution to the UN-ISDR’s online discussion on the Draft Framework to Guide and Monitor International disasters, 2003 Davis, I