As a follow-up to the technical advisory mission to Sri Lanka, a first training course had already been held on the topic “Space technology for improving hazard mapping in Sri Lanka” in August 2012. It was followed by a training event, which was held from 17 to 21 November 2014.
Earth observation technologies for flood risk mapping, modelling and management
The training was supported by eight experts from the IWMI (Dr. Giriraj Amarnath, Mr. Yoshiaki Inada, Mr. Surajit Ghosh, Mr. Umer Ykob, Mr. Niranga Alahacoon), from the Vienna University of Technology (Mr. Stefan Schlaffer), from the National Disaster Center of China (Dr. Haixia He), and from UN-SPIDER (Dr. Shirish Ravan).
About 90 participants from national institutions, NGOs, and international organizations attended the workshop on 17 November 2014 and 22 participants attended the training programme from 18 to 21 November 2014.
The event consisted of a workshop and training programme. The activity was jointly realised by UN-SPIDER, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) of the Ministry of Disaster Management (MoDM), and Postgraduate Institution of Science, University of Peradeniya.
The event included a one-day workshop for decision makers, followed by a four-day training programme. The objective was to enable disaster management stakeholders to learn how to access and disseminate flood-related information easily, quickly and accurately.
The training covered both theory and hands-on sessions on the following topics: earth observation for disaster management and, geo-data for disaster management including access to freely available data, rapid mapping, and the functioning of the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters, flood mapping using MODIS and SAR (ENVISAT ASAR), flood inundation modelling using the LISFLOOD-FP hydraulic model and the rainfall runoff inundation (RRI) model, and the rapid flood damage estimation model (RADAR).
The content was designed based on operational programmes and case studies in Sri Lanka. One of the outcomes of the engagement of UN-SPIDER with Sri Lanka is that the Disaster Management Centre of Sri Lanka now plays a prominent role in the implementation of the national spatial data infrastructure.
