'Different types of disasters affect human lives'

Hemanthi GURUGE

Since of late different types of natural and man-made disasters were affecting human lives in different ways, Prof Kapila Dahanayake said, when he addressed a seminar on landslides, subsidence and construction which was held at the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), recently.

The intensity of natural disasters had increased due to different activities such as nuclear testing,environmental pollution due to industrial activities, vehicle emission, etc.

Landslides, tsunami, floods, subsides of land, cracks in land, volcanoes, cyclones, heavy rains, melting of ice cubes, submerging of islands and forest fires were some of the frequently occurring natural disasters throughout the world. Landslides and subsidence were two of the major natural disasters which had affected Sri Lankan communities.

He also said that the formation of rock layers under the earth would change from place to place with the passage of time. Landslide or subsidence which occurred in one place would not occur in another place.

He noted that this had to be understand by the people through awareness.

Soil and earth had not been tested before construction resulting in many disasters and waste of money. Therefore the Central Environment Authority(CEA) has organized an awareness program and the first lecture of the series would be geology by Prof Kapila Dahanayake, who is an expert on geology.