Cablegate: International Visitor Request: Sri Lankan Mp's

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

200136Z Apr 05

UNCLAS COLOMBO 000732

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR ECA/PE/V
SA/INS (CAMP, DEAN) SA/PD (SCENSNY, ROGERS, HUDSON-DEAN);

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO PTER EAID CE
SUBJECT: International Visitor Request: Sri Lankan MP's
Wish to Look at Disaster Preparedness in the U.S.

1. (U) A group of seven Sri Lankan Members of Parliament
(MP) have requested a fully-funded trip of a week to ten
days' duration to visit Hawaii, California and Washington,
D.C., in order to look at how the U.S. prepares for and
responds to natural disasters. The group would like to
visit the Tsunami warning center in Hawaii, centers for
earthquake detection and preparedness in California, and the
U.S. Geological Survey and Office of Foreign Disaster
Assistance in Washington, D.C. The group is part of a
larger Select Committee on Disaster Management formed after
the December 2004 tsunami. Part of the committee has
already visited similar centers in Europe, another group
went to Japan, and the third group, headed by the Speaker of
Parliament, would like to visit the U.S.

2. (U) The group proposes that the Speaker be accompanied by
five other MP's representing different political parties,
both in the governing coalition and in the opposition, along
with one parliamentary staffer. They must deliver a report
on their trip by May 10, so they seek to travel during the
first week of May. The Chairman of the Select Committee,
Mahinda Samarasinghe, told PAO they had no funds to finance
such a trip.

3. (U) Post feels the purpose of the trip is worthwhile and
would result in useful knowledge about disaster preparedness
and prevention being transmitted to the government and the
public. Such knowledge, and links with American centers
working in this field, could prove vital in the event of
another tsunami or large earthquake. This is also a rare
example for Sri Lanka of multi-party cooperation, a trend we
would like to encourage. Nevertheless, we fully realize the
request as stated surpasses the ability of ECA to plan or
finance it in such a short time frame. We would like,
however, to be able to go back to the Committee and offer a
counter-proposal, such as a partially funded trip to Hawaii
and California only, for a fewer number of people. Post
requests ECA/PE/V and SA/PPD look at feasibility of funding
a three-person group to visit only one or two of the
requested locations. If SA/PPD tells us what might be
possible, we will discuss it with the committee members and
determine if they are still interested. Post regrets short
time frame, but the head of the committee, who organizes
such trips, has been away in Singapore the past two weeks
and was unavailable to discuss specifics.

Lunstead

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