In disaster preparedness and mitigation, secondary cities receive low priority from the government and the local authorities do not have enough resources nor the capacity to meet the needs of the city on their own. To address this issue and to support such cities in selected Asian countries, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) launched the program called Hydro-Meteorological Disaster
Mitigation in Secondary Cities (PROMISE) with financial aid from USAID. In most secondary cities, losses are assessed on the state level and seldom in detail at the community level. Under PROMISE, Kalutara was selected as a city to implement the programme and the NGO Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya served as the local partner. Economic vulnerability was identified as
one of the major problems to be addressed. The disruption of livelihoods, as a result of disasters, makes low-income groups living in vulnerable areas face severe hardships in their daily life. To give a helping hand to such communities, a pilot project was implemented with the partnership of the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Sarvodaya and Lagoswatte Sarvodaya Eco Village (CBO) of that area. A micro-credit loan system was provided to the needy families through the Sarvodaya anking facility. It supports the start, improvement or sustaining of a livelihood, so that their livelihood is not disrupted and the situation of reverting into informal loans is prevented.