A meeting was held at the District Secretariat today (23) under the patronage of District Secretary/Government Agent Ranjana Jayasinghe with the aim of advising government institutions and officials on the preparedness of the deaf community in times of disaster and to obtain the views and suggestions of the deaf community, who are constantly affected by disaster situations in the district.

Although special attention is paid to each community in the disaster management process, communication among the deaf community regarding preparedness, disaster management and post-disaster activities is at a very low level, and therefore they are not properly integrated in times of disaster and face various inconveniences. Minimizing this gap has emerged as a timely need.

Accordingly, at this meeting held with the participation of the Disaster Management Division of the District Secretariat and the Sri Lanka Deaf Association, attention was drawn to several requests based on the information obtained from a survey conducted among the deaf community.

Accordingly, educating the community about disaster preparedness, creating trained officers in sign language, representing government officials on behalf of the deaf community, updating information systems containing information about the deaf community at the Grama Niladhari Division level, educating the deaf community about disaster shelters and safety centers, and establishing a new unit to educate the deaf community about natural disasters were some of the issues.

It was also decided to hold awareness programs on the entire disaster management process at four convenient locations in the district by gathering a group of people, including registered members of the Sri Lanka Deaf Association and the deaf community identified by social service officers, in the district. It is also expected that a training program on sign language for officers will be held in the future, with the participation of Assistant Divisional Secretaries, Administrative Grama Niladharis, Disaster Relief and Disaster Management Officers, and Social Service Officers.

Also, attention was paid to setting up a WhatsApp group including this community to provide special information related to natural disasters, and to train members of the families of deaf people who understand sign language as language trainers.

This meeting was organized by the District Disaster Management Division.

Additional District Secretary (Lands) Dilip Nishantha, Deputy Director of the Disaster Management Division N.R.A. Viraj Dissanayake, District Social Services Officer Sarath Ranaweera, Project Officer of the Central Federation of the Deaf of Sri Lanka Bhagya Samarasinghe, Chairman K. Brian Susantha, Secretary D. Anil Jayawardena, Sign Language Interpreter Janaka Ranasinghe, Chairman and Secretary of the Kegalle District Deaf Association, officials of the Disaster Management Division and a group of others were present at the event.