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Technology for safety

Three more seismological stations are to be set up to provide earthquake and tsunami alerts to the public. They are to be sited at Mahakanadarawa in Anuradhapura, Hakmana in the South and the other at the premises of the Geological Surveys and Mines Bureau. With the one already there in Pallekele it is assumed that the country will now have an adequate warning system to cope with any impending disaster.

Sri Lanka being relatively free of major natural diasters, our people tended to relax. It was this lack of preparedness that took the country completely unawares when the cataclysmic boxing day tsunami lashed our shores with all its fury four years ago. Since then we have developed a keen survival instinct so much so that we go into a wild panic even at a vague mention of a tsunami in some distant land.

It is reported that the new seismology stations are equipped with the most sensitive apparatus to pick up vibrations of a Tsunami so that the populace could be alerted a good two hours before the killer waves could hit our shores.

Time enough one would assume for the people to relocate to safety zones. Of course with the communication revolution one would think that warnings of a tsunami would reach the population in any event. But it is the time factor that is paramount. Hence the importance of an early warning system that is being installed allowing that degree of extra time to evacuate.

Two weeks ago there were warnings of an undersea explosion in some Pacific Island in the days ahead that could trigger a tsunami and there were media reports of a tsunami drill to be given to the public. But no Tsunami materialized and it was obvious that it was a false alarm.

Hence the need for the new stations to convey precise information instead of causing all round panic. We saw how a false alarm a few months after the first tsunami led to chaos with people running helter skelter to safety and thieves and burglars having a field day.

Measures therefore should be taken to prevent such situations. Only definite warnings should be conveyed to the public so that pandemonium could be avoided.

Now that the public will be given a reasonably sufficient time to evacuate to safety locations it would be ideal if the Diaster Management Ministry earmark designated locations where the people could seek refuge.

In the earlier experience the people simply fled to schools, temples and churches carrying whatever belongings they could lay their hands on so that they could get as further away from the sea as possible.

But a designated area would make it easier for the Government to better organize relief measures and also restore a semblance of normality which otherwise would be an arduous task where the people are scattered in a wider area. Such arrangements are seen in countries such as China and Japan where earthquakes occur frequently.

Sri Lanka has been fortunate in being less disaster prone compared to certain other countries but it is good to be in a state of preparedness.

The change in geological patterns triggered by other environmental upheavals today can now place hitherto safe countries too vulnerable to disasters.

Hence the setting up these facilities is most timely and would equip Sri Lanka also to cope with any eventuality. Now that we have advanced technology allowing us to plan ahead of major disasters, the GSMB should also try to evolve a system to warn people of local disasters such as floods and earthslips so that the public would receive adequate warning time to evacuate.

For these mini diasters occur frequently most often taking a heavy toll of human lives. This is a process adopted in most countries vulnerable to natural disasters. Here too the people living in the earthslip prone areas would be given adequate time to evacuate to safety by sufficient warning.

The Geological Surveys and Mines Bureau which had been performing a silent service to the public should expand its horizons and play a more pro active role to help the country ward off disasters in the shifting sands of the geological formation brought about by factors such as climate change.

‘Prabakaran closed the door on me. I wanted peace’

In an interview, President Mahinda Rajapaksa is combative towards the West and conciliatory towards India. This year’s stunning and decisive military annihilation of the LTTE by the Forces has created, in its wake, a humanitarian crisis of colossal dimensions. Some 300,000 displaced persons, most of them Tamils who were forced to flee their homes, are living in government welfare camps awaiting rehabilitation.

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Reintegration of ex-combatants into civilian life

The National Framework Proposal on the Reintegration of Ex-combatants into Civilian Life in Sri Lanka developed by the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry was endorsed at a validation workshop held last Thursday, with the participation of key stakeholders, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe chaired the workshop.

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Reflections on disinformation

On the eve of the closure of the Peace Secretariat, I had a call from the BBC to respond to an interview they conducted with the American Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwarts who had been in Sri Lanka recently. His comments generally made sense, and his stress on swift resettlement of the displaced was understandable, and in line with Government policy, which is to resettle them as soon as possible.

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