The eighth session meeting of the High Level Committee for Foreign Relief Aid (Supplies) Coordination (HL-FRAC) was held at the office of the Deputy Minister of Defence yesterday (21 January), chaired by the Deputy Minister of Defence, Major General Aruna Jayasekara (Retd). The meeting was held with a focus on strengthening coordination, transparency, and efficiency in the management of foreign relief assistance.
Considering disaster preparedness and equitable distribution of relief supplies, the meeting placed particular emphasis on the progress of the centralized disaster related data entry system, intended to ensure accurate information flow and effective coordination of foreign relief supplies received from 22 foreign countries and the World Food Programme (WFP).
The Deputy Minister commended the committee for its active involvement and continuous engagement. He also acknowledged the indispensable role of the armed forces, whose vital manpower and engineering assistance, particularly in restoring roads and public infrastructure, were critical for ensuring uninterrupted access for relief distribution to affected communities.
The committee reviewed the progress of audit activities to ensure transparency and the proper utilization of donated supplies. Discussions then centered on enhancing inter agency coordination for data collection and improving administrative and infrastructure capacity at the National Disaster Relief Services Centre (NDRSC) warehouse, including road restoration. The meeting also covered updates to the central data integration mechanism and progress in training district and divisional secretariat officials on system data entry.
Committee members, senior state officials, senior representatives of the Disaster Management Center (DMC), and NDRSC were present at the meeting.