The session, moderated by Prof. Rohan Samarajiva, presented findings and analysis within a 90-minute session divided into two mini-sessions on technology and community. Mr. Michael De Soyza of Dialog Telekom and Mrs. Mala Rao of WorldSpace Corporation (India) presented their respective technologies piloted in the project. In the second mini-session on community, Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, Executive Director, Sarvodaya discussed the Sarvodaya approach to making communities disaster resilient. Natasha Udu-gama and Nuwan Waidyanatha presented analysis of the findings.

“Making Communities Disaster Resilient” – Rapporteur Report

Moderator Presentation | Rohan Samarajiva
WorldSpace Corporation | Mala Rao
Dialog Telekom | Michael De Soyza
Sarvodaya Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction | Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne
Training and Community Organization: Key Messages | Natasha Udu-gama
Findings and Conclusions | Nuwan Waidyanatha

Sri Lanka’s top celco Dialog Telekom wants to collect a million old phones and recycle them in the next two years in an initiative that will keep dangerous heavy metals from contaminating the environment, officials said.

Phone batteries for example have heavy metals such a lead, nickel and cadmium. Dialog is collecting old phones and accessories from today.

“In Sri Lanka there are about 10 million mobile phones, and mobile phones become obsolete in two to three years,” says Michael de Soyza from Dialog who heads the project.

“Though some are handed down to friends and siblings, eventually they are discarded and are disposed of through the garbage collection system.”

Starting today, at 14 Dialog offices, old phones would be collected. For every phone handed over – they need not be dialog phones – the company will contribute 25 rupees to a fund to buy toys for needy children over the Christmas season.

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