Fifth Meeting of the Select Committee - March 3, 2005

Professor Kapila Dahanayake, Head of the Department of Geology in the University of Peradeniya, Mr D W R Weerakoon, Director General of the Irrigation Department and Mr G T Dharmasena, the former Director General of the Irrigation Department made their presentations at the fifth meeting of the Parliament Select Committee on Natural Disasters.

Representatives of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and the IOM (International Organisation of Migration) also attended the hearings.

Prof Dahanayake, who had the opportunity of visiting Japan to see how the country’s tsunami warning system and emergency preparedness plans worked, shared his experience with the Select Committee. He emphasised that it is the combination of setting up a tsunami warning system linked with the media to disseminate news, the preparedness of local authorities and medical teams to handle a crisis, and educating the public of what to do are key to minimising the devastating impact of a natural disaster.

Mr D W R Weerakoon spoke about the secondary effects the tsunami had on the country’s irrigation system. He stated that according to the Atomic Energy Agency, earthquakes and earth tremors are increasing and this can have an accumulated effect on Sri Lanka’s dams. Thus inundation mapping on the occurrences of flooding and dam break studies are being conducted by the Irrigation Department for research purposes.

Mr G T Dharmasena stressed that floods and landslides cause loss of life and destruction to livelihood in Sri Lanka every year. Hence he highlighted the need to have emergency preparedness plans for people who live in areas that are prone to natural disasters.