In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development, Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), Sarvodaya will support local community leaders in developing emergency response and mitigation strategies in disaster-prone administrative districts across Sri Lanka.   

As an island country in the northern Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka is susceptible to multiple natural hazards, including cyclones, drought, floods, landslides, and tsunamis. Sri Lanka also continues to recover from a decades-long civil war, which left hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes. 

With funding support from USAID/OFDA, Sarvodaya will further strengthen community resilience, improve coordination between local stakeholders and international relief agencies, and enhance disaster mitigation capacities.

The 12 disaster-prone administrative districts (Kalutara, Rathnapura, Matara, Galle, Colombo, Gampaha, Mulathivu, Vavuniya, Mannar, Anuradhapura, Kilinochchi, and Ampara) will be better equipped to anticipate disasters and plan to reduce disaster losses – rather than waiting for an event to occur and paying for it afterward. Being more resilient at the community level will furthermore reduce social and economic shock.