The second day of the 11th Annual Research Symposium - 2021 on “Innovation Geared Building Resilience” organized by National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) was successfully held on 15th December 2021 at the Auditorium of State Ministry of National Security and Disaster Management (Disaster Management Division), Vidya Mawatha Colombo 07 following the successful 1st day held at the Waters Edge Hotel, Colombo on 14th December 2021.
The event was hosted as a hybrid form event with limited physical participation. Dr. (Eng.) Asiri Karunawardena, Director General of NBRO delivered the welcome address while Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe, Additional Secretary, Disaster Management Division, State Ministry of National Security and Disaster Management delivered the guest address.
The second day keynote address was delivered by Dr. Uchida Taro, Associate Professor, Faculty of Life and Environmental Science, University of Tsukuba on “Climate Change and Sediment Disasters”.
The second panel discussion of the symposium on “SENDAI FRAMEWORK TO ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS” which was jointly organized by the Disaster Management Centre and NBRO, was moderated by the Mr. Firzan Hashim and participated by the panelists Mr. Rohan Samarakkodi, Additional Director General - DMC, Ms. Yasangi Muditha Randeni - General Manager, Group Business Development and Sustainability, Aitken Spence PLC, Dr. Buddika Hapuarachchi - Policy Specialist & Team Lead (Climate and Environment), UNDP, and Dr. Vishka Hiddelage - Freelance Consultant.
The second day of the symposium was structured with three technical sessions and was chaired by the Dr. H.M.Y.C. Mallikarachchi, Senior Lecturer, University of Moratuwa, Mr. Toru Koike, Team Leader, Project SABO, JICA, and Prof. Terrence Fernando, Director, THINKlab, University of Salford, UK respectively.
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) along with Hambantota District Disaster Management Unit recently, conducted a Training Program on ‘Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Resilient Construction Technologies,’ for the Technical Officers (TO) of the government institutions of the Hambantota district. The program was conducted in two stages by dividing the technical officers into two groups. The 1st program was held in the District Secretariat Office of the Hambantota district on 2nd December 2021 while 2nd program was held in the Tangalle Divisional Secretariat Office on 3rd December 2021. Nearly 130 Technical Officers participated in the training program held in collaboration with the DMC Hambantota District Unit.
Wing Commander Prabath Moligoda, Assistant Director of DDMCU of Hambantota, made a presentation on the Disaster Risk Management and Development. He highlighted the concept of disaster risk reduction and how disaster has emerged as the pending and unsold problems of development and governance. He further related link between disaster risk management and development and role of TOs in disaster risk reduction through development projects.
Mr. CS Menikpura, Senior Geologist and the NBRO District Officer to the Matara and Hambantota district delivered a presentation on the situation of Hambantota district geo-hazards. He made a particular reference to the landslide and cutting failures that occurred in several divisional secretariat divisions of the Hambantota district and other potential geo-hazards reported in the district.
Mr. Anuruddha Vijekumara, Urban Planner and Scientist of the NBRO, did a presentation on DRR techniques and guidelines that can be adopted in risk reduction activities. He explained the concept of disaster resilience and how the resilience concept can be used to reduce the vulnerability of risk elements and thereby how to reduce associated disaster risk. He further discussed the settlement planning techniques, planning guidelines and design consideration that can be used for planning of resilient human settlements.
Mr. Ranil Weerasinghe, Technical Manager of the NBRO discussed the Disaster Resilient construction techniques. He explained the features of a non-engineered house and disaster resilient house/building. He further discussed the techniques that can be used for different disasters such as landslides, flood, high wind and expansive soil areas. He explained the importance of adhering to the UDA building regulations in constructing houses/buildings. He explained how to select building materials for constructions and how the quality of building materials can impact the resiliency of a construction.
Wing Commander Prabath Moligoda concluded the session and several participants expressed their appreciation to the organizers for arranging timely important training programs.
The District Secretary of Hambantota District and the Divisional Secretary of the Tangalle Divisional Secretary Office also attended the two sessions and expressed their views on the importance of the training program conducted.
පසුගිය දිනවල පැවති අධික වර්ෂාවත් සමග බදුල්ල දිස්ත්රික්කයේ ඇල්ල ප්රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයේ කරදගොල්ල ග්රාම නිලධාරි වසමේ මලිත්තගොල්ල ප්රදේශයේ පෙර හදුනාගෙන තිබු නාය ස්ථානයක නාය නැවත සක්රීය වීමේ ලක්ෂනයන් (නාය පාදම ආසන්නයෙන් මඩ සහිත ජලය ගලා ඒම) නිරීක්ෂනය වී තිබේ.
මලිත්තගොල්ල ප්රදේශයේ කුඹුරුයායක් ආශ්රිතව හදුනාගෙන ඇති මෙම නාය පලමුව 2019 වර්ෂයේදී සක්රීය වී ඇති අතර, 2023 වර්ෂයේ නොවැම්බර් මස මෙම නායයෑම නැවත සක්රීය වී නිවාස 13 ක් අධි අවදානම් ලෙස හඳුනාගෙන (2019 වර්ෂයේ නිවාස 8ක් සහ 2023 වර්ෂයේ නිවාස 5 ක්), එම පුද්ගලයන් වෙනත් සුරක්ෂිත ස්ථානයක පදිංචි කිරීමට ජාතික ගොඩනැගිලි පර්යේෂන සංවිධානය නිර්දේශ කොට ඇත.
මෙම නායයාම සක්රීය වීමත් සමග ඇල්ල - වැල්ලවාය ප්රධාන මාර්ගය නාය සුන්බුන් මගින් මීට ඉහතදීද අවහිර වීමටකට ලක් වූ බැවින්, මෙම නාය යලිත් සක්රීය වී යම් සුන්බුන් ගලනයක් ඇතිවුවහොත් ඒ මගින් ඇල්ල - වැල්ලවාය ප්රධාන මාර්ගය නැවතත් අවහිර වීමට අවදානමක් පවතී. ඒ හෙයින් වර්ෂා අවස්ථාවල මෙම මාර්ගය භාවිතා කරන්නන් මෙම අවදානම් තත්ත්වය පිළිබදව සැලකිලිමත් විය යුතුය.
මෙම නායයෑම් ස්ථානය පිලිබදව තවදුරටත් පරීක්ෂාකිරීම සදහා ජාතික ගොඩනැගිලි පර්යේෂන සංවිධානයේ විශේෂඥයින් පිරිසක් 2024 අප්රේල් මස අවසන් සතියේදී මෙම ස්ථානය නිරීක්ෂනය කිරීමට සැලසුම් කොට තිබේ. මෙමගින් නාය අවදානම් අවම කොට ප්රදේශයේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීම සදහා අවශ්ය කෙටි කාලීන සහ දිගු කාලීන නාය ස්ථාවර කිරීමේ ක්රමෝපායන් හදුනාගැනීමට අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ.
The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) convened the first Research Day session of the year on 25th April 2024 under the chairmanship of Director General, Eng. (Dr.) Asiri Karunawardena.
The event, attended by NBRO directors and researchers, provided a dynamic platform for sharing insights and inspiring innovation within the organisation.
Dr. H.A.G. Jayathissa, Director of the Landslide Research & Risk Management Division, initiated the session with a comprehensive overview of research fundamentals. His presentation set the stage for an engaging dialogue on key research principles.
Mr. H.D.S. Premasiri, Director of the Environmental Studies & Services Division, emphasized the critical importance of integrating research into daily tasks for continuous improvement. His insights highlighted the organisation's commitment to excellence and innovation.
Ms. S. Muthurathne, Director of the Building Materials Research & Testing Division, further fueled the discussion by presenting strategies to cultivate innovation within NBRO.
Dr. Dhanushka Jayathilake shared valuable suggestions drawn from his personal experiences during his PhD journey, offering insights to inspire NBRO scientists and enhance the Research & Development Programme. His input added depth to the discussion and provided actionable recommendations for future endeavors.
Mr. K.N. Bandara, Director of the Geo-Technical Engineering Division, highlighted the importance of optimization in design processes, emphasizing efficiency and effectiveness in research outcomes.
Eng. (Dr.) Asiri Karunawardena, the Director General, graced the assembly with his presence and delivered insightful recommendations. He stressed the significance of adhering to international standards in research publications, urging researchers to strive for global recognition and excellence.
The session concluded with a comprehensive overview by Mr. Chinthaka Rathnasiri, Director of the Human Settlement Planning & Training Division. He highlighted the organization's current progress, outlined ongoing initiatives, and presented future endeavors aimed at advancing research and innovation within NBRO.
The successful Research Day session reaffirmed NBRO's unwavering commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and excellence, setting the stage for continued progress and development in the field of building research.