Climate change is real, but are we ready to face it?

The cyclone also revealed corruption and underlying issues in implementing disaster-resilient infrastructure

Adverse weather conditions are likely to prevail in Sri Lanka with another depression forming over the Bay of Bengal. According to the Meteorological Department, this Depression is likely to intensify over the next 24 hours. Red alerts have been issued in several districts including Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Matale. Many of these areas are now like an active volcano, erupting frequently, posing threats to people living in these rather isolated locations.
More than a month has elapsed since Cyclone Ditwah struck the island nation. The intensity of the disaster was unexpected, but if the technology to obtain near-accurate forecasts were in place, there may have been some kind of readiness. At this point, while the government invests its time in rebuilding efforts, it should revisit existing frameworks, methodologies and practical knowledge required to improve climate literacy among the public.
For the longest time, weather and climate-related information had often been ignored by people. This awareness needs to begin from school,  where children are being taught about natural disasters that coastal nations are likely to experience, how to observe signs of a disaster and what needs to be done to mitigate risks to lives. 
A classic example is the case of Tilly Smith, a British schoolgirl who saved many lives during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. On the day of the disaster, Smith, who was 11 years old at the time, was holidaying at Mai Khao Beach in Thailand. The tsunami occurred without any public warning. Just a few weeks earlier, she had studied tsunamis in school — and immediately recognised the signs of bubbling water and receding sea as signs of an impending disaster. She warned her parents, which led to all hotel guests being evacuated from the beach. Thanks to Smith, a dozen lives were saved, and this shows the importance of disaster education in school.
Now that there is already a debate on proposed educational reforms and related blunders, it is timely to revisit archaic education policies that may not serve present day standards. Perhaps one of the subjects that could be considered is disaster education. People’s ignorance as to not taking evacuation alerts seriously was observed in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami as well as cyclone Ditwah. During the tsunami, once water levels started receding, people started running towards the sea to observe this new phenomenon. Rather than moving away from an impending disaster, they ran towards it, putting their own lives and lives of many others at risk. Similar risky behaviour was observed during the cyclone, where people decided to remain despite warnings of increasing water levels. Despite repeated evacuation alerts in landslide-prone areas, people continue to visit their houses and check on belongings and property. 
The cyclone also revealed corruption and underlying issues in implementing disaster-resilient infrastructure. Despite landslide hazard zonation mapping conducted by institutions such as the National Building Research Organisation, people continue to live in hazard prone areas, increasing their vulnerability towards natural disasters. 
The need to obtain expert advice from structural and construction engineers when building houses has now come to the fore. The NBRO has also published a manual on hazard resilient building materials available in the public domain. But whether these technical aspects were ever considered when building structures in prime yet vulnerable locations remains a doubt. The NBRO has also piloted housing models suitable for sloped terrain and flat terrain in order to mitigate the damage experienced during adverse weather conditions. But none of these projects were put into good use. 
Hence,   this is a golden opportunity for officials and authorities to think anew; to consider obtaining knowledge from professionals such as quantity surveyors, engineers and other technical officers in rural level administrative units such as divisional secretariats to mitigate disaster risks. One cannot deny the fact that climate change is just another term anymore. Climate change is real, but whether we are ready to face it with appropriate knowledge, guidance and expertise remains a question.

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