Project management in a disaster A Sri Lankan study

Abstract

The discipline of project management has surfaced ever so significant in Sri Lankan context, particularlywith the recent devastation caused by the tsunami in December 2004. Subsequently, disastermanagement agencies including the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), local and international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), private sector agencies, and voluntary parties were seen as themajor actors in different stages of the disaster management cycle through 'post-tsunami projects'.Thus, there is a visible linkage between the stages of the cycle and the discipline of project management,Following the catastrophe, disaster recovery, relief, mitigation and re-construction projects wereundertaken by the aforesaid agencies with the view of minim izing the adverse impacts infl icted uponthe affected in the country. In line, this study discusses the spectra that project management in acalamity differs from those under general circumstances.

The research site was a temporary camp (Rejjipura camp of displaced families) established atHikkaduwa divisional secretariat in Galle district All the project components implemented by thedisaster management agencies were empirically studied from the project management perspective.The adopted methodology was entirely qualitative, and interviews with the members of the projectteams, observations, and field participation were used as primary sources of data. Accordingly, thestudy revealed that projects undertaken to improve quality of life of the affected in the camp weretripartite; projects on livelihood development, temporary shelter and camp management. Similarly, itwas found that project management in a disaster differs, especially in terms of skills required byproject managers and Project Management Life Cycle (PMLC), from those required under ordinaryproject management situations. Though, under general circumstances PMLC is lengthier inclusive ofthe stages of identification; feasibil ity study; planning; implementation; delivery and post-evaluation, inthe Sri Lanka calamity, it was shorter and immediate. Equally, PMLC comprised situation analysis(instead of deep identification surveys), visualization (instead of visioning) and implementation.

Finally. the study proposes that in any disaster, project managers should possess skills on networking;coordination; visualization; effective communication; donor negotiation and conflict resolution in orderto effectively manage the situation with a clear understanding of the distinction between projectmanagement under normalcy and calamity.