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1. Lanka’s tsunami sensor not repaired since 2003
From: "RVS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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Message: 1
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 19:56:13 -0000
From: "RVS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Lanka’s tsunami sensor not repaired since 2003
Lanka's tsunami sensor not repaired since 2003
PK Balachanddran
Colombo, January 7, 2005|22:33 IST
The tsunami-warning equipment gifted to Sri Lankan by Japan had been
out of order since August 2003, and the authorities had not bothered
to repair it, says disaster management expert Dr Ranijth Premalal De
Silva.
"Sri Lanka does not need new equipment. It already has the necessary
equipment at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy, gifted by the
Japan International Cooperation Agency. But the equipment had broken
down in August 2003, and not repaired since then. A power failure had
corrupted the software. But this could have been set right in a
week's time. That, alas, was not done," he said.
Dr De Silva told Hindustan Times that Sri Lanka could have got two to
two- and-a-half hour's warning if the equipment was working.
Of course, the data collected by the Peradeniya system would have had
to be sent to California in the US for analysis, but this process
would not have taken more than an hour, he said.
According to Dr De Silva, warnings were impossible only if the
epicentre was very close.
In the case of the December 26 tsunami, where the epicentre was
Sumatra, a fairly large time gap of an hour or two, was a distinct
possibility.
In one or two hours, many people, in many places, could have been
evacuated.
In many places in Sri Lanka only a mile or two from the coastline was
affected. So, many people could have run to safety if a warning was
there.
The broadband equipment at Peradeniya was linked to early warning
centres in Anuradhapura, Batticaloa and Ruhuna.
Incidentally, Batticaloa in the east, and Ruhana, in the south, were
badly hit by the tsunami.
If the equipment in Peradeniya were functioning, there would have
been somebody monitoring it 24 hours over 365 days.
But since it had not been functioning, nobody was there, Dr De Silva
said
HT
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