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| Tuesday, 28 December 2004 |
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by Chamikara Weerasinghe Chairman of Geological Survey and Mines Bureau, Prof. P. G. R. Dharmaratne yesterday warned the public not to return to their homes in the coastal belt until wave action in the sea dies away and returns to normal. "The wave action is expected to die away in two to three days. The people are advised to stay away from coastal areas as there could always be secondary earthquakes ahead of a main earthquake such as the one that had taken place in the sea off Sumathra islands affecting us," he said. According to US Geological Survey facility at Pallekele, 27 minor earthquakes had already taken place since the major quake , the last of these measuring being 5.4 on the Richter Scale recorded at 12.40 pm local time yesterday. Prof. Dharmaratne said that it was very unlikely that another earthquake as big as the Sumathra one that measured close to 9 on the Richter Scale, will occur again within the next few days. Hence, it was very unlikely that Sri Lanka will experience a similar tidal wave action during the next few days, he explained. He maintained that people in Sri Lanka had just been exposed to an earthsimmer, but not an earthquake. "Sri Lanka is fortunate that it is not located in an earthquake zone," he said. "Sri Lanka fell victim to the present disaster as a result of the main earthquake wave action being directed to its location towards East," he said. "We are at a disadvantage in that we cannot predict these earth tremors in advance. Nor can any other Geological Survey system predict them ," said Prof. Dharmaratne. |
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