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Shall we reflect upon the things we had in the year 2014? Are we in a position to celebrate the victories or are we in a disappointed mood as we could not achieve our tasks as planned in the last part of the previous year of 2013?
As IESL, we all should be proud and be responsible for being a signatory of the Washington Accord. There were lot of other achievements too, but it was the icing on the cake. More activities were completed and more remains to be done.
However, I was just thinking about our responsibilities as the engineering community. Have we contributed enough? Sr Lanka has been receiving unusual heavy rains for a few months now. There was a devastating landslide in Meeriyabedda and lots of other areas too are unstable. Anuradhapura area was flooded and it was the severest flood since 1957. When I searched about our engineers’ contribution in mitigating disasters, it was not that praiseworthy.
We, as engineers, must play a considerable role in the disaster mitigation in the country. It has to be a whole hearted, much enthusiastic and holistic approach inclusive of all disciplines in engineering. We rarely observe a joint effort by all the disciplines of engineering to solve a national problem. I personally feel that disaster management is a national commitment that everybody has to contribute. Have we given our consent to use our expertise for engineering predictions? Are we in a position to assist the Meteorology Department with our expertise?
At the dawn of the new year, I urge the engineering community to form a joint group of expertise from all disciplines to assist the government agencies in mitigating disasters. IESL can do this; I sincerely hope that the engineers who are willing to form this group will write to me. I am waiting for them in the dawn of the New Year.
I wish all the engineers a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy New Year 2015!
Eng. (Dr.) Udeni P. Nawagamuwa
nawagamuwa@gmail.com
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