Current%20Developments%20

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Current Developments Challenges in Tsunami
Warning Systems Sri Lanka

• Rohan Samarajiva
• samarajiva_at_lirne.net

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Agenda

• How did warnings actually work in Sri Lanka?
• 26th December 2004
• 27th February 2005
• 28th March 2005
• Current situation
• Legal and institutional framework and its
  weaknesses
• The way forward Public-private partnerships

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December 26th, 2004

• Seismic information on 9.3 earthquake (0059 hrs
  UMT) known in Colombo (0110 UMT), more or less
  at same time as Hawaii
• Navy and Police knew of abnormal situation in
  East Coast after 0300 hrs but did not issue
  warning
• Journalists got first information around 0300 and
  carried stories at 0334 and 0341 hrs
• 40,000 lives lost from 0230 to 0600 hrs UMT,
  without one minute of official warning

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February 27th, 2005 (2 months later)

• PTWC unable to communicate to Government
  designated warning center using fax and email

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March 27th, 2005 (3 months later)

• Great Nias Earthquake occured at 1610 UMT (2210
  LK time)
• PTWC issued tsunami bulletin at 1626 hrs UMT
• I received an SMS at 1658 hrs UMT and confirmed
  quake using Internet
• BBC carried story around 1715 hrs UMT
• Sarvodaya district centers (and some government
  officials) informed before government media
  carried warning before congestion hit the
  networks

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March 27th, 2005

• Sri Lanka TV and radio channels carried warning
  2 km evacuation order at around 1730 hrs UMT
• Only 10 minutes before the 90 mts it took for the
  first wave to hit East Coast on 26th December
  2004
• Media knew as early as 1700 hrs UMT but did not
  broadcast lacking authorization from government
• No all clear announced after warning/ evacuation
  ordered

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Policy discourse snapshot 29th March 2005 Select
Committee

• Sri Lankan legislators called for a single body
  to issue warnings on potential natural disasters
• We could not find any authority who was willing
  to say it was safe for people to go back, that is
  why we need a centralised system from where
  authoritative information can be obtained.head
  of broadcasting organization
• A high-ranking official for media policy said the
  government will seek a public service clause in
  licenses issued to broadcasters, requiring
  uniform disaster alerts

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Current situation Institutional

• Disaster Management Act became law in May 2005
• Disaster Management Center established in July
  2005 under President
• Previous NDMC continues to exist under Ministry
  of Social Services
• Ministry of Disaster Management created in
  November 2005
• Road Map published in December 2005

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Current situation warning

• Weather-related Department of Meteorology
  (Tsunami Early Warning Center)
• Seismological Geological Survey Mines Bureau
  (24 hr monitoring of earthquake waveforms)
• Ocean waves National Aquatic Resources
  Authority
• Media have trouble confirming stories getting
  direction from government (July 2005)

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Road Map on warning

• Multi-hazard early warning center to be
  established by DMC within 1-2 years at cost of
  USD 0.28 m
• Multi-hazard EW Division of the DMC to be located
  at premises of Meteorological Department
• Dissemination of alerts and warnings via
• Existing government channels
• TV, newspapers (?), radio
• Police wireless network
• Military communication networks
• Explore options of using networks of Sri Lanka
  Red Cross Society other NGOs to multiply
  reach of conventional channels

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Adopted model
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Weaknesses

• Efficacy of DMC and its EW Division rests on
  quality of leadership
• No insulation from ocean of bad governance no
  lessons learned from experience with regulatory
  agencies/authorities
• No independence for Director General
• No assured funding
• Apparent total reliance of external funds

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Weaknesses

• Apparent over-reliance of seconded government
  officials, making likely a low-performance
  organization
• Over-dependence on government neglect of
  private sector
• Lacuna re media and telecom
• E.g., former government-owned incumbent included
  in DMC coordination chart, but not largest telco
• Communication of warnings ill understood
• Over-reliance on government entities,
  non-reliance on the effective organizations
• Lacuna on last-mile warning

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Warning, a public good that has to be supplied
despite government failure . . .

• Bangladesh Warning supplied through
  public-private partnerships
• The cyclone of 1970 took the lives of 300,000
  people but the cyclone of the same intensity of
  1991 killed 138,000 people, and the cyclones of
  1997 and 1998 resulted in only 127 and 6-7 deaths
  respectively

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More information

• www.lirneasia.net
• Google relevant terms with Sri Lanka included
• Samarajiva, R. (2005) Mobilizing information and
  communications technologies for effective
  disaster warning Lessons from the 2004 tsunami,
  New Media and Society (7(6) 731-47.
  http//nms.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/6/731.
  Prepublication version http//www.lirneasia.net/
  2005/07/icts-and-early-warning/