President Anura Kumara Dissanayake convened a high-level meeting at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday (11) to discuss the impact of the coming El Niño event and the preparedness of state institutions, warning officials that the expected conditions could mirror those of 2016–2017.
Representatives of the Department of Meteorology, the Department of Irrigation, the Central Environmental Authority, the Mahaweli Authority, the Disaster Management Centre, the Lanka Electricity Company and the National System Operator attended, alongside Presidential Secretary Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake and Senior Additional Secretary Kapila Janaka Bandara.
The discussion examined how El Niño could affect food security, drinking water and energy supplies. Officials reviewed reservoir water capacity, agriculture, drinking-water distribution and energy-management plans. It was noted that water-management plans have already been adjusted on the assumption that the upcoming El Niño would broadly resemble the 2016–17 cycle, and that the Yala cultivation season had been commenced about one and a half months earlier this year to mitigate risk.
The President instructed officials to prepare plans ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply, safeguarding food security and providing adequate water for agriculture and drinking needs. He told the meeting the challenge “can be managed through proper planning,” drawing an explicit comparison to the response to Cyclone Ditwah and the Middle East conflict.
The Presidential Secretariat session lands against a backdrop of warnings from across the technical agencies. The Met Department has flagged that the southwest monsoon will be interrupted by a 30–35 percent rainfall deficit through July–August, while the DMC has begun publicly raising the prospect of seawater desalination as a contingency if drought conditions match the 2016 baseline. The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Food Policy has separately tasked the Ministries of Agriculture, Public Administration and Health with operational rollout, and irrigation officials report that the major reservoirs feeding Yala are at 63 percent capacity.
Sources: President chairs talks on El Niño impact and preparedness — Newswire, June 11.
