As part of the Institutional Strengthening Mission, a workshop and training programme were jointly organized 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.
