In line with the International Day for Disaster Reduction, 13th Oct 2010, a special discussion forum on ‘Disaster Resilient Cities’ was organised for the Officials of Municipal Councils and Urban Councils. About 50 officials attended this event held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo.
'How to make your city resilient to disasters' was the main question debated at this event. During this session, the different approaches that could be adopted to achieve this objective was also presented by resource persons of organizations such as UN HABITAT, the University of Moratuwa, the Urban Development Authority, Help Age Sri Lanka, Practical Action and the Disaster Management Centre of the Ministry of Disaster Management, Sri Lanka. In addition, The Lunawa Environment Improvement and Community Development project was discussed as an approach on how to involve the communities to improved disaster resilience.
A questionnaire was then completed by all participants in order to collect ideas and thoughts to help make their cities disaster resilient. The session ended with an open discussion and concluded with a suggestion to have a workshop for all Mayors on the various techniques and methods towards building disaster resilient cities in Sri Lanka.