Second Meeting of the Select Committee – February 22, 2005

The second meeting of the Parliament Select Committee on Natural Disasters afforded committee members the opportunity to clarify queries with the experts who had delivered presentations during the first meeting.

The main concerns brought up were whether there was prior knowledge that Sri Lanka was within an earthquake zone and thus prone to tsunamis, and whether more people’s lives could have been saved since there was a time lag between the tsunami hitting the northeast coast and southern coast.

The Geological Survey & Mines Bureau and the Meteorology Department recommend that Sri Lanka set up a strong national multi-hazard warning system, join an international tsunami warning system, develop a good communication and information dissemination network, and carry out frequent awareness programmes for disaster preparedness, not only about tsunamis as they are rare phenomena, but for storm surges and cyclones as well.