The COVID-19 pandemic is a recent testimony of devastating global public health emergencies. The outbreak of the contagious SARS-CoV-2 virus paralysed the entire social and economic structures of the world, placing resource-limited nations in grave danger due to fragile socio-economic conditions and a lack of preparedness for such a significant disease outbreak. Developed countries also encountered unprecedented challenges due to the lack of preparedness for a global-level pandemic, despite having advanced preparedness strategies and mechanisms for responding to infectious diseases, i.e. high-tech disease surveillance, detection and genomic data management systems. Subsequently, many countries encountered concurrent hazards, such as volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, hurricanes, tornadoes, and epidemics, including dengue and Ebola, during the critical stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, making response and preparedness to multiple hazards extremely challenging. Sri Lanka, where this research was primarily focused, faced enormous challenges due to floods, landslides, dengue and leptospirosis during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of these concurrent hazards and their cascading effects on the social and economic structures of the grassroots was devastating. The lack of preparedness for such complex scenarios has been recognised as a significant gap in the country’s Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) framework by researchers and practitioners. However, developing preparedness plans for multi-hazards at the national level is deemed ineffective as the complexities of hazards and their impacts vary from place to place. In this critical milieu, promoting effective community engagement in response to multi-hazard scenarios has been recognised as an approach to mitigating local-level context-specific challenges in disaster preparedness. Addressing this vital aspect, this research proposes a community-based framework to promote community involvement in pandemic preparedness in the multi-hazard context in Sri Lanka. Constructivist grounded theory was used as the research strategy. Data were collected in three multi-hazard-prone districts: Kalutara, Kegalle, and Rathnapura. Ten expert interviews, including group interviews, were conducted using in-depth semi-structured interviews to gain insights from 37 experts involved in the COVID-19 response. In contrast, eight focus group discussions, involving 48 respondents, were used to collect data from affected communities in selected districts. Findings revealed various new challenges faced by communities and governance during the COVID-19 pandemic and complex consequences encountered due to concurrent hazards amidst the pandemic. Also, a set of gaps revealed by the research is linked with disaster governance at the local level in terms of pandemic and multi-hazard risk mitigation. Further, results suggest the potential of community involvement through effectively conducted community-based initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on mitigating challenges of the community and institutions involved in disaster governance at the local level. Moreover, possible strategies to improve local preparedness for health hazards, i.e. pandemics, epidemics, and concurrent hazards, were identified through the study. There is an immense potential for incorporating them into the local-level DRR framework. Finally, a framework that captures the relevant elements of preparedness, utilising key findings from the study, was developed as the primary research outcome.
| Date of Award | 3 Oct 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Sponsors | Ministry of Education (Sri Lanka) |
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| Supervisor | Michael Ginger (Main Supervisor) |
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