The MOBILISE team visited Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) and National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) to ensure the smooth handover of the new MOBILISE digital platform for strengthening their disaster risk reduction activities.
This visit to Sri Lanka allowed the MOBILISE team to work with the technical and operational teams within both DMC and NBRO to integrate the MOBILISE platform within their existing technical infrastructure and to demonstrate how the MOBILISE platform can be used to upload exposure data and hazard information to establisha deeper understanding of the local risks and implement risk governance strategies.
The donated MOBILISE platform runs on a high-performance computer and uses a state-of-the-art digital touch table to allow multi-agency teams to work together to explore local risks and implement disaster risk reduction strategies, as well as use as an interactive knowledge base for responding to disasters. The research work and donation of the platform have been possible due to the funding received from the UKRI (EPSRC) and Global Challenges Research Fund in UK.
The platform which supports disaster risk reduction strategies and response will eventually help DMC to reduce the impact of natural disasters (such as flooding and landslides) and is the result of two years of research and development work by the THINKlab at the University of Salford and its partners in Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Pakistan.
The Principal investigator of the MOBILISE project and the Director of the THINKlab, Professor Terrence Fernando, met with Ms. Anoja Seneviratne, Director for Mitigation Research and Development, Brigadier Athula Ariyarathna, Director of the Emergency Operation Centre from DMC and Dr. Asiri Karunawardene, Director General of NBRO along with several other Directors to demonstrate the MOBILISE platform and provide initial training for the staff.
Professor Terrence Fernando said: “This is the first step towards bringing digital innovation to the current disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster response practices in Sri Lanka. We hope to work closely with the DMC and NBRO team to further enhance the functionality of the MOBILISE platform to ensure the platform is fit for purpose for their DRR and disaster response activities. My hope is that the MOBILISE platform becomes the national platform for DRR and disaster response activities in Sri Lanka and other countries in the region.”
Initiated in May 2017, the MOBILISE project is due to be completed in December 2020. However, new funding received from GCRF has now allowed the team to continue this work for another three years.
