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FROM THE FIELD

Sri Lanka: Preparedness saves lives
03 Mar 2009 10:29:00 GMT
 Source: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) - Switzerland
Rishani Wijesinghe, Communications Manager, International Federation in Sri Lanka

Website: Website: http://www.ifrc.org/tsunami

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In Negombo, Gampaha district, volunteers fron the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society warms up before the practical exercises in life safety training.
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In Negombo, Gampaha district, volunteers fron the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society warms up before the practical exercises in life safety training.
International Federation (p18879)

Background

•  Disaster risk reduction

•  Indian Ocean tsunami

•  Earthquakes

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M. A. David Chaminda, 29, is in his second year as a volunteer with the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society's water safety programme. In both his personal capacity, and as a Red Cross volunteer, he has saved an impressive total of 60 lives off Sri Lanka's perilous beaches.

The water safety programme was set up in response to the 2004 tsunami. It has a theme of timely response to disasters and preparedness - and volunteers like Chaminda are the foundation behind its success. From October 2007 to date, the volunteers have saved a remarkable 107 lives.

Trained by the Japanese Red Cross, 40 Sri Lanka Red Cross Society volunteers from Gampaha District - on the country's west coast - are now proficient in basic and advanced life-saving techniques and swimming. The Gampaha branch has conducted a series of training programmes, and refresher courses facilitated by the Japanese Red Cross and have written, printed and distributed 8000 textbooks on water safety in Sri Lanka.

One such programme - covering the entire gamut of search and rescue, life-saving and water safety training techniques - was conducted recently in collaboration with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) delegations in Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Thanks to funding from the Japanese Red Cross, 30 participants from Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Bangladesh were given "training of trainers" instruction in theory and practical exercises by three trainers from Bangladesh.

"This is necessary in this region," says K. Jakaria Khaled, director of training with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society. "We face different types of disasters almost every day in South Asia.

"Everyone - be it the instructors training participants on life-rescue techniques or the volunteers on the ground - can't stress enough how valuable this service is for communities facing floods and other natural disasters on a regular basis. And in Sri Lanka, the remarkable number of lives saved in a year alone is testimony to just how great an impact the programme has along Sri Lanka's coastline. "

Following the tsunami, disaster risk reduction has been a core component of the IFRC's and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society's disaster management programmes. Given the thousands of lives lost and the sheer magnitude of the devastation the tsunami caused, preparedness and community-based disaster-risk management is, without a doubt, vitally important in Sri Lanka.

See where the story takes place: http://www.ifrc.org/docs/news/09/09030301/gampaha.kmz

Lea el artículo en español: http://www.ifrc.org/sp/docs/news/09/09030301/index.asp

Lire l'article en français: http://www.ifrc.org/fr/docs/news/09/09030301/index.asp


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Background information

Briefings
Indian Ocean tsunami - [Who works where]

Topics
Crises poll 2005 Disaster risk reduction Earthquakes Media & Humanitarianism
Facts & figures
Sri Lanka

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