Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction in Central Sri Lanka: Mitigating landslide and rock-fall damage in urban Nawalapitiya

his case study looks at two community- based disaster mitigation initiatives in Nawalapitiya, in Kandy district, central Sri Lanka. It demonstrates a novel experience as state, non-government organizations, local authorities and community groups collaborated to reduce disaster vulnerability of the affected communities. In Soysakelle, this partnership worked well and a storm- water drain was constructed, leading to further joint community efforts. In Gondennawa, the same approach did not work so well. Here, the steep sloping terrain made it difficult for people’s participation in the community-proposed fire belt and afforestation initiatives. Conflict arose on issues of land ownership and different perceptions of whose responsibility it was to mitigate disasters. These community-based mitigation efforts made use of landslide-risk maps, the technical knowledge of disasters and the public awareness generated by earlier projects implemented by the Center for Housing, Planning and Building (CHPB), Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), National Building Research Organization (NBRO) and Urban Development Authority (UDA), with support from the Nawalapitiya Urban Council (NUC).