Failure to forecast Friday’s cyclonic storm :

President orders probe into Met Dept lapses

Report to be submitted tomorrow :

Disna Mudalige

The Disaster Management Ministry on the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa launched a special inquiry into the alleged failure by the Meteorology Department to issue a timely warning about Friday night’s cyclonic weather conditions that caused the loss of several lives and damage to property.

Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera yesterday said he instructed the Ministry Secretary to submit a report on the lapse on the part of the Met Department, within two days.

Accordingly, the report is due tomorrow.

The minister said President Rajapaksa also spoke to him over the telephone on the alleged complaints. Minister Amaraweera said if the charges were proved, he would not hesitate to take swift action against the officers responsible.

He said they received information from many quarters on the lapses of the department with regard to this incident.

The minister said the information will be studied closely and action taken against the officials if proven guilty.

Amaraweera was of the view that the information disseminated by the Met Department had been insufficient on many occasions in recent times including on this occasion.

Commenting on the serious concerns raised on the credibility of the Department forecasts, the minister in agreement said the confidence of the public in the Met Department forecasts should not be allowed to be breached since it would lead to further risks and problems.

Asked about complaints of the lack of modern facilities to the Department to provide accurate forecasts, Amaraweera said a proposal submitted by him to upgrade the existing system in the Department had been approved by the Cabinet, but it has been delayed as the Ministry has not yet received funds.

He said the Disaster Management Ministry in coordination with the regional units of the Disaster Management Centre and other stakeholders are working to provide relief measures to the people affected by the inclement weather.

The minister said funds for the relief measures have been disbursed to the District Secretariats.

Met chief admits shortcomings

Meteorology Department Director General S H Kariyawasam admitting the shortcoming on the part of the Department to issue a severe weather warning in advance to prevent fishermen going out to sea on Friday night, said the stormy conditions became worse than they expected. He said sudden changes and spot changes in weather are frequent in the region where Sri Lanka belongs to, making it harder to predict weather conditions accurately beforehand.

Kariyawasam said the department plans to install an advance radar system this year to overcome these practical problems.

He said taking into account the experiences during the recent inclement weather, the Department will take measures to strengthen its early warning systems and to build an effective and close communication with the fishermen.

He said in the weather bulletin the Department issued at 4pm on Friday, it predicted strong southwesterly winds upto 80 Km per hour.

It had requested Naval and fishing communities ‘to be vigilant as deep and shallow sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Pottuvil via Colombo and Galle will be rough’.

However, until 3am on Saturday it failed to issue a severe weather advisory, and by that time the fishermen were on their way back after fishing.

DMC Deputy Director of Media Sarath Lal Kumara said if the Met Department had given the warning somewhat earlier, the lives of fishermen could have been saved.