The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) with the support of the Asian Preparedness Partnership assisted by the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) made arrangements to engage in a detail study to determine the current status and level of preparedness and response of public, private and community organisations at national, district, divisional and local level in Sri Lanka in disaster management.

The Sri Lanka Preparedness Partnership (SLPP) assisted DMC to facilitate this programme with a view of obtaining recommendations and suggestions for improvement of the overall effectiveness and adeptness in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).

In this regard, as per the proposed methodology of the study, DMC commenced a series of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with key categories of stakeholders in disaster management, from 1st to 3rd February 2023. Under the guidance of the Director General of Disaster Management Centre, Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe (Retd.) these FGDs which, were held at DMC were carried out by an external consultant and was well attended by participants representing key government organisations, private sector, local and international non-governmental organisations.