Building a Cadre of Landslide Specialist in the Region

Participants Observe the Demonstration of the Global Positioning System at Divyatalawa

In early June, Sri Lanka witnessed two important events on landslide risk mitigation, with the hosting of an “International Seminar on Landslide Risk Management” in the capital – Colombo and a “Regional Training for Landslide Risk Mitigation”, in Bandarawela. The seminar and training was held under the Regional Capacity Enhancement for Landslide Impact Mitigation (RECLAIM), jointly being implemented by ADPC and the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI), with funding support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The seminar was held on 6 June 2005 and covered two important aspects of landslide risk management – landslide risk assessment and risk mitigation, through early warning and structural mitigation measures. The seminar ended with a panel discussion on challenges for landslide risk management. Representatives from the six program countries, partner agencies and invitees attended the seminar. A five day interactive training commenced on the 8 June 2005 at Bandarawela a hilly region in the Uva province, located around 192 kms from the capital. Land use planning, approaches for risk assessment in different countries, hazard zonation etc. were among the many topics covered during the training course. A field study included the investigation of two landslide prone sites of Kahagalle, Koslanda and Watawala. Participants also visited the National Institute of Survey and Mapping at Divyatalawa.

RECLAIM is a three-year regional program being implemented in Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand and Sri Lanka. During the course of the project implementation, it is expected that a cadre of specialists and decision makers with up-to-date knowledge of landslide disaster mitigation practices will be built, through the different capacity building activities and promoting dialogue between decision makers and professionals about the theoretical and practical aspects and issues related to landslide hazard mitigation.

For more details write to Mr N M S I Arambepola, Director and Team Leader UDRM Team at arambepola@adpc.net  or Mr Rajesh Sharma, Project Manager at rajesh@adpc.net  or visit the website at http://www.adpc.net/udrm/reclaim/introduction.html