15th Meeting of the Select Committee - 5 April 2005

Mr Udeni Amarasinghe, Senior Lecturer in Engineering Geology, University of Peradeniya, Mr Asela Weerakoon, Representative for the Foreign Ministry, Mr Sujatha Cooray, Deputy External Officer for the Foreign Ministry, Mr Priyantha Serasinghe, Senior Fellow for Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and a delegation representing the Virginia Institute of Technology which was led by Dr Fredrick Krimgold met with the Select Committee.

Udeni Amarasinghe explained the role he played in forming the Geology Centre in the University of Peradeniya. He stated that under proposals made by him to JICA, he received the necessary assistance in setting up the system for academic and research purposes in 2003. The Geology Centre in Peradeniya is the central agency, which receives data sent by three other seismic stations located throughout the country.

Although his aim in installing this was for academic purposes, he recommended that it should be upgraded as a seismic warning system. He also stated that JICA was keen to restore the system in Peradeniya, which had a software problem for eight months, causing the system to shut down.

Mr Priyantha Serasinghe of JICA agreed with what was said by Mr Udeni Amarasinghe on extending further cooperation and improving the relationship between the two stakeholders.

MP Rauff Hakeem added that apart from the seismology monitoring system, the Asian region needs tsunami buoys to analyze wave height and force, in order to detect a tsunami.

Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in response to the above stated that he is chairing the Indian Ocean Rim Association meeting to be held in Mauritius and he will bring the issue up on behalf of Sri Lanka.

A delegation representing Virginia Tech made their presentation to the Select Committee regarding cooperation with local universities. Dr Fredrick Krimgold stated that strengthening universities’ capacity to handle disaster management especially in the field of research is an important aspect of the overall system. He stated that the delegation was an initial exploratory mission, which was here to assess the needs of local universities with regard to incorporating disaster studies. The proposal being made by the mission is the establishment of a centre for disaster studies, which will integrate natural science, engineering and sociology.