Post-tsunami road reconstruction in Sri Lanka: Efficacy of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction

Following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami all roads in the affected areas in Sri Lanka were
inaccessible during the immediate aftermath of the disaster either due to the damages they
sustained or poor networking of roads and lack of contingency planning within the road
network systems. This paper aims at proving the necessity of effective mainstreaming of
disaster risk reduction during road reconstruction as a basic precondition for reduced exposure
of road structures to hazards; improved resistance of road structures; improved resilience of
authorities/teams involved in road projects. It presents the experiences of the road
reconstruction sector in Sri Lanka following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The paper
discusses the perceptions of the key project stakeholders on mainstreaming disaster risk
reduction and the effects of mainstreaming disaster risk reduction on vulnerability reduction.
The study was empirically supported by the case study approach and independent expert
interviews. This paper only presents the analysis of one case study which was conducted in a
post-tsunami road reconstruction project in the Southern Sri Lanka, out of two case studies
conducted within the study