Tsunami evacuation drill today

Waruna Padmasiri

A tsunami evacuation drill will be held today at 3pm in selected locations in 14 districts, Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said yesterday.

The evacuation drill will be held in three stages according to Disaster Management Centre Director Gamini Hettiarachchi. The Disaster Management Centre will issue the tsunami alert. It will be disseminated to district and village centres as well as the public. The people will be evacuated into safe areas with the assistance of village level committee members. The drill is expected to last for two hours.

The minister said that village level committees have been established islandwide to inform the public in preparing for natural disasters and emergency situations. The government will minimized the effect of natural disasters, such as, floods and landslides, Minister Amaraweera said.