Disaster management officials from the United States and Sri Lanka concluded a three-day joint workshop in Galle on Thursday, with the exercise drawing heavily on lessons from Cyclone Ditwah to refine interagency response planning, Ada Derana reported.
The workshop, held from June 16 to 18, was organised by the US Embassy in Colombo in partnership with US Pacific Command’s Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM), the Montana National Guard, the Montana Disaster and Emergency Services (DES) and Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre. It builds on a 2025 Memorandum of Understanding between Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence and the Montana National Guard.
The expert-led programme culminated in a tabletop exercise designed to test coordination during a realistic emergency scenario. Participants were challenged to respond to evolving disaster conditions, coordinate resources, manage public communications and make critical decisions under pressure, the US Embassy said.
Drawing on lessons learned from recent disasters — including Cyclone Ditwah, which left widespread damage across northern and central Sri Lanka in late 2025 — the workshop gave Sri Lankan agencies a structured forum to exchange practical approaches to coordinated crisis response plans and interagency coordination.
Sri Lankan participants spanned the security and civilian response ecosystem: the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Police, the Department of Civil Security and the Disaster Management Centre alongside the ministries of Defence, Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs, Health, Agriculture, Power and Energy, Environment, and Local Government. Montana National Guard personnel and DES emergency management specialists led much of the planning content, drawing on their experience with wildfires, floods and severe winter storms in the US state.
The US Embassy said the workshop underscored the importance of cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region, where effective disaster response helps protect communities, safeguard critical infrastructure and reduce disruptions to economic activity. The Galle programme is the most visible US-Sri Lanka civil-military disaster preparedness engagement since the Ministry of Defence partnership was formalised last year.
