Tenth Meeting of the Select Committee - 22 March 2005

Dr Greg French, the Australian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, Mr Matthew Hyndes, Deputy High Commissioner for Sri Lanka and Mr Alex Knox, an AusAID programme development officer made their presentations to the Select Committee along with Dr N P Wijeyananda, former Director General of the Mines Bureau and experts from the Meteorology Department.

Dr Greg French, Australian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, thanked the members of the Select Committee and the Government of Sri Lanka for their assistance and generosity to Australian nationals who were affected by the tsunami. He also stated that he was in communication with the Federal and State governments on the proposed visit of a Sri Lankan delegation to Australia to learn about how disaster management is handled in Australia and the mechanisms in place to support it.

Dr N P Wijeyananda, former Director General of the Mines Bureau, spoke on the seismological movements in Sri Lanka. He stated that although Sri Lanka has the University of Peradeniya and the Mines Bureau monitoring the local seismological movements of tectonic plates and the Pallekelle Station in collaboration with the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) monitoring global seismography, they currently operate separately. In order to pinpoint the epicentre of an earthquake and the danger it could pose to Sri Lanka they need to pool resources and work together. He also stated the importance of having access to other seismography stations globally and having a coordinated centre to receive the information and disseminate it to the relevant authorities.

Disaster Management Committee selected