Chapter 1

Introduction

The definition of the word "disaster", in this book is placed within

the context of development and change. The book will use
methodologies from natural sciences, social and management
sciences and traditional belief systems, because this book is aimed
specially at investigating the status of disaster in the space and
time of the developing world.

Disaster is an event that requires help from an outside source to

recover as the immediate living environment of the affected has
been temporarily or permanently destroyed. It is an event that can
occur unexpectedly or due to negligence of governance. When it
occurs, a disaster is a sudden, calamitous event that seriously
disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes
human, material, economic or environmental losses that exceed the
community's or society's ability to cope using its own resources.
Though often caused by nature, disasters of human origin have
begun to kill many more people than natural disasters in the
developing world.

“For a disaster to be entered into the database of the UN's

International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), at least one
of the following criteria must be met:

a report of 10 or more people killed

a report of 100 people affected
a declaration of a state of emergency by the relevant
government
a request by the national government for international
assistance “

(http://www.irinnews.org)

In the context of developing world where, democratic institutions

are not properly established and socio-political corruption leads to
non-adherence to scientific ways of development resulting in
continuing poverty, the identification of disaster has to be extended
beyond the common understanding. In here the definitions utilised
by the developed world has to be extended to include the types of
disasters of natural and societal origin present in the developing
world. This extended definition will account for the social disaster,

1
which is not considered within the general understanding of
disaster in developed world.

Therefore this book written specially for the use of students of Sri
Lanka, will present the extended concept of disaster, which adds
following criteria to the ISDR definition
(http://www.irinnews.org).

In addition to ISDR definition of disaster, this book includes

events resulting from negligence due to failure to establish
democratic institutions, socio-political corruption and non-
adherence to scientific ways of development as disasters. This is
because the problems of development are today considered a result
of lack of freedom (Sen, 1999) and non-utilisation of capabilities.

For example, poverty of the farming population in Sri Lanka is

related to inability of the nation to find a market for their
agricultural products, increase efficiency in agriculture and lack of
new vision on diversification of production. The farmer economy
related media reports indicate that there are serious problems in the
distribution of fertiliser, irrigation management and crop
diversification. A survey conducted between 2005 January 1 st and
2006 January 1strevaled that there were 413 different cases of
reported corruption in four daily newspapers in Sri Lanka. Further
there were 216 cases of political and administrative corruption
reported in media during the same period. Political and
administrative corruption is recorded in about 12,000 web sites and
World Bank, Asian development Bank and Japan International
Cooperation Authority have warned of high level of corruption in
government tender procedures.

The effect of this inefficiency and unscientific approach results in

poor quality roads, public transport, and traffic congestion which
leads to a massive destruction of resources of fuel, property and
life amounting to about 10 to 12 billion Rupees annually making it
the second most damaging disaster after war. Most recent reports
(LMD, 2006) indicate that 71 percent of the population believe that
government sector is corrupt and the level of efficiency of public
services is about 15 percent. A survey conducted in about 120
government offices between 2004 and 2006 by a group of MBA
students indicate that they are highly inefficient with long delays in
attending to revenue collection and road repair.

About 200 (Seneviratne, 2003) surveys on poverty conducted by

various authors since 2000 indicate that corruption is one of the
major social disasters in Sri Lanka, which leads to an annual loss

2
of about 600 to 1000 billion Rupees. The situation in most of the
other developing countries is not much different from the situation
in Sri Lanka and these countries are poor mainly due to financial
corruption in them. Therefore, in the context of developing world
corruption and related anti-social activities have to be treated as
disasters, because they lead to poverty of their people and in turn
poverty reduces the ability of the society to plan and implement
disaster management systems.

Social construct of disaster

The social construct of disaster can be personal and communal, but

the damage can be explained within the domains of scientific
definition of disaster. It is clear that it is the effect not the scale of
disaster which is important in the social construct of disaster in the
developing world. This is because that the effect of disaster in the
developing world has only a limited and temporary support from
the institutional or any other system in them. Therefore,
immediately after the clearance of the first impact of the disaster,
people (communally or individually) have to find avenues of
recovery by themselves. Long term recovery depends totally on
the ability of the people (communally or individually) to find
solutions to the problems associated with recovery. This is
because decision making in disaster management in developing
countries are not conducted within the principles of disaster
management. Therefore person, extended family and community
have to gather help and support the victims. Therefore the
definition of disaster has to be extended to include many disasters
which are not considered to be disasters in the developed world.
The following life experiences show the effect of disaster on
people (communally or individually) in the developing world.
Some of the incidents report less than 10lives lost and do not
require outside help if they have occurred in the developed world,
where social and insurance support is available. Therefore this
book includes many types of disasters which are not listed as
disasters in the books written in the developed world.

“We have lived here for three generations, we never knew that
there will be a disaster like this” A plantation worker commenting
on Beragala Land Slide, which killed 13 people. Property damage
was estimated at 2 million Rupees at 1966 value.

“All the paddy fields are gone, our livelihoods are totally
destroyed” a farmer at Kolonne, Sri Lanka, after a mudslide
destroyed about 20 hectares of Paddy. 7 people lost their lives and
property damage was about 10 million Rupees (1966 Rupee value).

3
The area remained barren till about 1980 and the total loss of
income was estimated be about 200 million Rupees. About six
families migrated to Walawe project area as they had no other
income.

“ Oh, I thought that all is over, I heard the sound of breaking glass
coming towards me, then I closed my eyes and began to prey”
Author facing a minor Air Crash, Paris, which killed 1 and injured
about 12. Author suffered minor concussion, 1973.

“ We may not be able stop this process, we may have to leave by

next year” a farmer at Gumsi, Nigeria-Niger border, commenting
on advancing dunes, settlement was abandoned in 1985 as sand
began to bury houses, 1983.

“ This is a disaster of Bibbilical proportions, Lake has never been

so low” a regional Prince commenting on the lake level of Lake
Chad at Baga, Nigeria-Cameroun border, Lake Chad continued to
dry-up and in 1990, the lake was at its lowest level resulting in
mass migration from the area, 1984.

“ Oh my god why this happened to me” a mason who lost his

family in a flood formed due to dam collapse, Alo Dam Collapse,
Maiduguri, Nigeria, dam collapse was due to a flash flood in the
northern Mandara mountains, which killed about 14 and damaged
and destroyed property worth of about 12 million US Dollars,
1991.

“Aiyo, Aiyo, my child, why did you leave me” mother who lost
her child in a flood, Wee Oya, Yatiyanthota, 1998.

“Oh it was a disaster, it washed off my paddy field”, farmer

(average monthly income of Rs. 3000/=) who lost all his paddy
fileds in the Puwakgahawela Landslide, at Belihuloya, Sri Lanka,
2001.

“ I could not believe that very big trees can fall like that and if the
big tree was not blocked by an another big tree, it would have
fallen on to our house and we would have been killed” a school
leaver‟s comment on what happened during 2001Cyclone at
Mihinthale, November, 2001. Total damage to Mihinthale area was
about 2 million Rupees (2001 Rupee value).

4
“Accountability is disastrously low”. Expert on development
planning referring to financial corruption (related to Tsunami
expenditure) in a developing country, 2002.

“ What a disaster is this, Oh God why did this happen” father

(Railway Station Master) who lost his family in the 20041226
Asian mega Tsunami, at Telwaththa train tragedy, Telwaththa, Sri
Lanka, 2004.

“ We knew that this disaster will happen. How many times we told
them to look into the problem”. A fatal accident at a railway
crossing (Driver, who was in a hurry entered the bus into the
railway track from the opposite lane and resultant accident caused
42 deaths and 35 serious injuries and 11 minor injuries),
Yangalmodera, Sri Lanka, 2005.

“ It was a disaster waiting to happen. Why did they concentrate so

many unarmed troops at one point” (the Navy troop exchange
point located at a vulnerable location), comment by a villager,
Suicide bombing of a navy convoy at Habarana, Sri Lanka, 2006.

“My secretary (ministerial secretary) told me to inform you that

what you have predicted has come true. I have told her that you
base your explanations on field facts” A comment made by one of
the author‟s student (now working as an assistant director in a
ministry related to environment) on the 2nd February, 2007,
referring to heavy landslide activity in the hill country of Sri
Lanka. Author has informed the importance of climatic change and
poor settlement planning during a lecture series and field tours
with the above student in 2002.

Primarily, the social construct of the nature and severity of disaster

is based on their individual or communal cost of damage. In
addition trauma caused, is a valuable variable in personal disasters.
However, the more permanent construct is formed as a result of a
disaster with higher losses than lower losses. For example any
disaster with more than four lives lost is considered to be a major
disaster by about 74 percent of the people interviewed in a survey
on impact of disaster. This may be a result of four is the average
family size in Sri Lanka and any number above may hint that the
loss is equal or more than a loss of a family. Loss of a family from
a community is felt without any form of social borders as during
most of the big disasters, it was clear that people were shocked
when they heard of four or more than four deaths. This finding is
not in accordance with the international limit of 10 or more people
killed for a hazardous occurrence to be identified as a disaster

5
(http://www.irinnews.org). The limit of property damage for an
incident to be categorized as a disaster was a situation equal or
more than the destruction of about 2 or more houses, permanent
blockade of road and burial or erosion of farmland or home garden.
At the end of about 164 observations made between 1966 and 2006
in Sri Lanka, term disaster was used in relation to deaths at 78
percent of the time, indicating that death is the basic denominator
of the social construct of disaster.

Traditional understanding

Traditional understanding and modern disaster management

identifies disasters on the basis of their relationship to origin. On
the basis of origin disasters are studied under two major groups:
Natural and Societal.

Natural disasters

Origin Time line Scale of destruction

Geological

Space Debris All the time Local to Global

Meteorites All the time Local to Global

Magnetic Fluctuations Any time Local to Global

Pole shift Any time Global
Solar Flair Any time Local to Regional
Magnetic storm Any time Local to Regional

Earth Interior System failure Any time Global

Plate tectonics All the time Global
Mountain Building Cyclic Regional
Isostasy Cyclic Regional

Earthquakes Sudden Local

Earth tremors Sudden Local
Subsidence Sudden Local

Climatic Change Cyclic Regional to Global

Climatic Oscillations Cyclic Regional
Drought Intermittent Local to Regional
Flood Intermittent Local to Regional
Tornado Intermittent Local
Blizzard Intermittent Local
Dust storm Intermittent Local

6
 Biological evolution Evolutionary Local to Global
Species Extinction Evolutionary Local to Global
Species reduction Evolutionary Local to global

Man Induced
Cultivation – over cultivation – poor cultivation techniques
Industrial – mechanical and chemical waste
Construction – settlement – roads – buildings
Recreation – lossening of rock, soil and vegetation
Animal intrusion – story of elephant and man

Man Made
Technological –
House work related – electric shock, gas explosion, various types
of falls (from roof/ from tree/ on steps/ in the bathroom etc.)
Traffic flow related

Corruption – unpatriotic behaviour

Gluttony – not adhering to rule of law/ stealing of biomaterial

Madness – sadism
Conflict
Terrorism
War

Level of damage effect on development

Country Geological Man Man Made Effect on

Induced economy
Sri Lanka High Very high Disastrous Very High
Nigeria High Very high Disastrous Very High
Indonesia High Very high Disastrous Very High
Switzerland Moderate Low Very Low Very low
India Moderate Moderate Moderate Moderate
China Moderate Moderate Low Moderate
Malaysia Moderate Low Low Low
Singapore Moderate Low Very Low Low
USA High Low Very low Very low
UK Moderate Low Very Low Very low
Israel High Low Low Very low

Disaster management

7
Disaster management can be defined as the programme of work
designed to organize control over disaster and emergency
situations. Further it has to provide a management system for
helping people susceptible to disasters and supply them with prior
warning, and educate them on possibility of avoiding disaster.
Then disaster management is a process, which operates before,
during, and after the disaster.
Aim of disaster management is to reduce or if possible to avoid
human, physical, and economic losses suffered by individuals,
society and country. Further, disaster management should aim at
reducing personal suffering and help victims to recover as soon as
permitted. In case of refugees or displaced persons they should be
provided protection and safety.
Disaster management therefore is the discipline involved in
learning and practising the holistic scientific system of avoiding,
limiting and controlling risks. These risks can be natural and
societal and pre and post disaster. Therfore total disaster
managemnt involves a true scientifc approach with the utilisation
of physical, social and management sciences.

Primary requirement of disaster management

Primary requirement of disaster management is that the operation

is based on scientific systems of data collection, analysis,
prediction and management. All scientific systems have a set
method of operation and disaster will occur, when this set system
is disturbed or destroyed, by an internal or external instability.
Therefore scientists should be involved at all stage of study,
identification, planning and prevention.

Management originating from Italian „maneggiare‟ is the act of

directing all sectors of an organisation through use, deployment
and manipulation of all available resources. Italian word
originated in relation to the act of controlling a horse, which is
considered to be one of the most difficult tasks in the world.
“Maneggiare” refers to manus or hand, indicating full control.
French original term „mesnagement‟ and later word „management‟
was utilized in the construction of the English term „management‟.
Mangement theorists indicate that management is present only
when there is authority, power and leadership.

Management is as old as the beginning of organized cultivation

and construction, but the organized form of management may have
begun in the Sumerian civilisation. Ancient Rajarata civilization of
Sri Lanka had a highly developed system of water and human
resource management system which enabled it to be successful at
times other than massive south Indian invasions. All civilizations

8
of the past were destroyed by massive outside invasions and even
today no nation has any resistance to massive outside invasions
which was proven by the Second World War in 1939.
Today management has divided it self into two major systems of
product oriented and service oriented and has intruded heavily into
common life systems through the application of the concept of
globalization. At the beginning of the millennium management
has become a complex study system with six major branches.

Human resource, operations, strategic, marketing, and financial

and information technology are considered as these six major
branches.
However the advanced management systems in countries with
advanced and secure societal order are now conducted through
human interaction management, which devolves power to the
operating system. Similarly, advanced military systems of the
world today operate on ubiquitous command and control systems,
which carry specific commands as they run to the battlefield
expected situations. Therefore management has become an
extremely useful system of organization where advanced and
secure societal order is present and a useless tool when there is no
secure social order.

Development of theory and thought on managementbegan with

economics . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management, gives the
following historical development to modern management.
Adam Smith (1723 - 1790), John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) Eli
Whitney (1765 - 1825), James Watt (1736 - 1819), Matthew
Boulton (1728 - 1809) and Léon Walras (1834 - 1910) were the
economists who contributed to the beginning of modern
management. Joseph Wharton offered the first tertiary-level
course in management in 1881. Henry Towne's Science of
management in the 1890s, Frederick Winslow Taylor's Scientific
management (1911), Frank and Lillian Gilbreth's Applied motion
study (1917), and Henry L. Gantt's charts (1910s) developed
management as a discipline. J. Duncan wrote the first college
management textbook in 1911. In 1912 Yoichi Ueno introduced
Taylorism to Japan and became first management consultant of the
"Japanese-management style". His son Ichiro Ueno pioneered
Japanese quality-assurance.The first comprehensive theories of
management appeared around 1920. People like Henri Fayol (1841
- 1925) and Alexander Church described the various branches of
management and their inter-relationships. In the early 20th century,
people like Ordway Tead (1891 - 1973), Walter Scott and J.
Mooney applied the principles of psychology to management,
while other writers, such as Elton Mayo (1880 - 1949), Mary
Parker Follett (1868 - 1933), Chester Barnard (1886 - 1961), Max

9
Weber (1864 - 1920), Rensis Likert (1903 - 1981), and Chris
Argyris (1923 - ) approached the phenomenon of management
from a sociological perspective. Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005)
wrote one of the earliest books on applied management: Concept
of the Corporation (published in 1946). It resulted from Alfred
Sloan (chairman of General Motors until 1956) commissioning a
study of the organisation. Drucker went on to write 39 books,
many in the same vein. H. Dodge, Ronald Fisher (1890 - 1962),
and Thornton C. Fry introduced statistical techniques into
management-studies. In the 1940s, Patrick Blackett combined
these statistical theories with microeconomic theory and gave birth
to the science of operations research. Operations research,
sometimes known as "management science", attempts to take a
scientific approach to solving management problems, particularly
in the areas of logistics and operations.

The science of disaster management therfore straddle on all

avialable scientific areas of study and utilse the knowledge
required for disaster control withn the sphere of environmental
management. Therfore environmental management, environmental
change and new strands of culture have to be placed within the
study of disaster mangement.

Environmental management and disaster

Modern scientific environmental management treats environment

as a multi faceted resource with enormous capacity to provide
many types of items from a single unit of the resource. Here the
resource is blended in to the systems of economic development,
where each and every product can acquire a value. For example, a
tree was treated as sources of wood or crop or a unit in the
protection of water source in the old system of environmental
management system. Today a tree is part of a harvest system which
produces wood, wood chips, compost raw material, preserve water
and soil. Then a tree is treated as an object to interfere with and
looked after according to the principles of forest harvesting. Within
the technology of forest harvesting tree is checked for disease
regularly, cleaned to avoid fungi formation, broken or damaged
parts or branches of the tree (by wind, rain and animal action) are
removed and cut at the prime maturity level to obtain the best
wood or wood chips for paper industry.

In addition concepts of environmental change and change of

environment are also considered as important in the study of new
environmental management. Environmental change is the process
of changing environment through human activities with the use of
technology, social and political ideology. For example the ancient

10
civilisation of Sri Lanka was based on the concept of irrigation and
a strong monarchical rule, which arranged the environment to suit
the sustainability of a hydraulic civilisation. Since the arrival of
western colonists, the environment of Sri Lanka was changed to
suit the cultivation of tree crops and spices. We are still in this
environment and have begun to introduce an unplanned urban and
rural settlement expansion. Therefore our environment is becoming
more and more polluted, dangerous and chaotic to live.

Change of environment is the change of living environment by

migration for the purpose of living and economic activity.
Migration to farm settlements, urban areas and emigration results
in change of environment. Again if these activities are not planned
properly, the new environment is subjected to pollution, becoming
dangerous and chaotic to live. When emigration is not conducted
in a proper manner the emigrants are subjected to many legal and
social difficulties.

The holistic view of environment is utilised in the new concept of

environmental management, where value of economic activity is
weighed on the basis of its long-term sustainability within the
environment. Therefore the new concept is constantly linked to
agriculture, industry, investment, monetary policy, livelihoods and
economic planning. This enables the environment manager to
begin at the point of investment and end at sustainable control
(Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1, Flow of activity of the new environmental

management system

Investment programme

Environmental–natural and societal resources Sustainability

with

Scientific
decision
making

Economic, social and institutional policies

Government agencies and other resources users

11
The sustainable control has to be applied at all levels of disaster
management to achieve the desired development objectives.
Resource management has to be conducted within good
governance and decentralization of power. The disaster is a highly
localized occurrence other than for the uncontrollable disasters like
Asian Mega Tsunami, Category Five Hurricane Katrina,
Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Meltdown or war. The developing
countries have highly inefficient public service system mainly due
to lack of decentralization and the slow response to disaster is
mainly a result of lack of decentralization of observation, research
and control. For example universities of Sri Lanka are rarely used
in settlement planning or environmental planning and about 90
percent of the disasters occur due to this isolation of research from
reality.

The following statement made by an expert in a discussion on

housing policy reveals the poor coordination between public
service and research in Sri Lanka. This discussion was held to
discuss the vulnerability of housing to floods and landslides which
made about 60 billion rupees in October – November, 2006.

“There are many academic research and papers published, but in

reality we have to look into the situation we are in” (comment by a
high ranking public servant)

the above statement is a normal stereo type comment of a public

servant in the developing world where most of them and the
politicians believe that development should not be based on
scientific theory, but on their socio-political programme, but the
reality is environment operates on a truly scientific basis and any
unscientific act conducted by human beings will be rejected and
destroyed by environment.

Concept of Disaster Management

The disaster management inquires the vulnerability of populations

to environmental change and resultant disaster scenarios.
Environmental change is created both by natural changes in the
geo-sphere and man-environment interactions. Developed
countries have well understood the nature of disaster and conduct
activities required to control and limit the effect of them within the
scientific knowledge available to them. Therefore they have the
ability to reduce loss of life and limit property damage during
disaster. However, this type of systematic approach is not
established in the developing countries where disaster management
is activated only during the time of disaster and its immediate

12
aftermath and the suffering of people and reconstruction of
property is not conducted in a planned way. Therefore, disaster
management in the developing countries cannot be truly discussed
within the established concepts of the developed world.

Environmental Change and disaster

Environmental change is the process of change of the nature and

dynamics of space and place. The concept of environmental
change emerged from the studies on changing nature of earth
systems, like green house gases, ozone depletion, soil erosion,
desertification and emergence of new diseases. The geological
forces of the environment create changes in the physical
environment and form various types of hazards. Society change
space and place through many types of consumption systems from
cultivation to recreation and in the present civilisation, culture has
become the primary force behind change of natural space and
place. Human activities utilise culture to develop space and place
and in doing so create a constant competition for places (Sack,
1999). Therefore we can assume that, natural disaster is created or
formed when there is a crisis between nature of place and culture,
and the societal disaster is formed when there is a conflict between
the established forms of culture and new or emerging strands of
culture.

The historical transformation of human behaviour is recognised as

one of the most important factors in the construction of many
social responses to environment and concept of disaster. The
human response to environmental change and disaster is conducted
through either adaptation or avoidance. However, total adaptation
is not possible and avoidance is extremely expensive.

Since 1960s the place of environmental change has become one of

the most important approaches in the study of environment. The
global plate tectonics and study of Quarternary history has changed
our understanding to be more scientific and now all global
environmental problems can be addressed through the utilisation of
this concept (Slaymaker and Spencer, 1998).

New strands of culture and disaster

Ethnic identity, feminist thinking and human rights has also

introduced many new social perspectives on disaster. These are
more important in the developing world where there is a deeper
connection between environment and social groups based on
ethnicity, women play a more crucial role in the survival of family
and human rights are constantly violated. For example in Sri

13
Lanka, the social group associated with the coast, where fishing is
the major occupation is stricken with poverty due to high level of
hazardous nature in their occupation. In the tea plantations the
work force most exposed to continuous wetness (as they walk
among the dew filled tea bushes) is women and respiratory
ailments are more common among them. Most of the poor live in
marginal areas and when they are faced with hazards, relief and
compensation is not provided on a free and fare basis, because of
inefficiency and mismanagement on in the public and private
sector organisations in Sri Lanka. However the fishermen and
farmers in the developed world are not poor and are less exposed
to disaster, basically due to existence of a developed social security
system, which warn of an incoming hazard and provide proper
relief when a disaster occurs. Then it is clear that the social
organisation is of paramount importance in the study, preparation
and recovery from disaster.

Ethnic Identity and disaster

Ethnic identity is primarily based on culture and cultural identity

can be defined simply as “the way people live in accordance to
beliefs, language, history, or the way they dress”. These thoughts
may develop psoitive or negative ideologies and when there is
conflict of beliefs, some groups of people will take arms. This has
happened since man has managed to establish communal living.
Toaday, identity is sued for many purposes and in poor and
developing nations it has become a major factor for dissent among
communities. The result of this dissent is the formation of terrorist
groups.

Today there are about 50 internationally operation terrorist group

who fight a disastrous battle with many democratically elected
governments, western civilisation and another ethnic group.
Therefore terrorism has become the most frequent disaster in the
world which record an average of 20 deaths and 200 injured.
Trauma, famine, malnutrition and continued hatred between
communities resulting from these conflicts result in genocide
where thousands are killed.

The only way available to live freely with ethnic identity is to

follow the basic democratic way of life, but the behaviour of many
governments and communities in the developing world have
proven that some human beings have no regard for a democratic
way of life and problem solving. Most analysts believe that it is the
socio-political corruption which allows identity to be used in
conflict and the countries like Singapore (now a developed
country) and Malaysia (rapidly becoming developed) show that

14
reduction of socio-political corruption can reduce conflicts
associated with ethnic identity.
Gender and disaster

Gender and feminist thinking has to be discussed as a factor in

disaster management as women are the most important part in
constructing social space as they rare children and guide their
thinking pattern. In addition women have begun to contribute
heavily to family income in the globalised economic system. This
has exposed women to disasters which have not affected them
before and resulted in the change of the cultural foundations of
family. This change of cultural foundation has increased the
amount of personal disasters related to suicides, drugs and sexually
transmitted diseases. Globalised economy has constructed a media
which has begun transmitting complex cultural values to traditional
societies of the developed world creating culture clash between the
international culture and local culture. This type of activities have
sometimes lead to crisis in gender by exposing women of the
traditional developing societies to concepts of free living of the
developed world.

Human rights and disaster

Understanding of human rights is essential to the study of disaster,

because one of the primary aims of disaster management is to save
life and property from undue impact of societal hazards. The effect
of bad governance, corruption and anarchy affect the rights of
people to live in peace and develop their community. The
establishment of human rights is aimed at controlling these anti-
social activities and allow people to represent their right to free and
fair justice. Therefore, human rights and disaster management has
a simple and direct relationship between them in saving lives and
property.

Disaster management –origin and evolution

Disaster management originated from risk management and the

study of disaster is presented in this book under identification of
patterns and trends of disaster, pre and post disaster management
and short-term and long-term predictability of disaster. This study
makes no differentiation between disasters originating from natural
and societal causes and attempt to pay more attention to disasters
originating from man-environmental interaction in the developing
world where scientific environmental planning is at an infantile
stage. This type of approach is required in the developing world
situation where disaster management is not properly organised and
pre-disaster planning is almost non-existent.

15
The history of impact of disaster is noted since the beginning of
organised agriculture and living in a defined environment. It is
because the effect of any disaster is felt and society feels injured or
damaged more when people have a definite place to live.

Modern study on disasters began through the study of natural

hazards in the middle part of twentieth century within the domain
of physical geographers. Natural hazards were discussed in
geology, engineering and agricultural sciences within the topics of
geological evolution (Hutton, 1937 and Strahler and Strahler,
1976). Gilbert White (1936 and 1945) and Smith (2001) produced
the social perspective to the study of natural hazards. Geographers
led the hazard based approach and sociologists were using a
disaster based approach (Mileti et al, 1995). 1973-74 killer
drought of the Sahel brought about a new thinking on hazards and
the effect of drought, disastrous cyclones and earthquakes in the
decade of 1970 brought awareness on natural hazards to world
organisations. White (1974), White and Hass (1975) and Burton
(1978) were primarily responsible for the development of thought
on natural hazards. The studies conducted by the author from 1974
to 2005 in Sri Lanka, United Kingdom, Nigeria and Norway, on
the effect of climatic change and migration in Sahel, climatic
change and social destabilisation in Sri Lanka and hazard
preparedness in Sri Lanka is also used in the formation of this
presentation. The above studies were conducted using the primary
methodology of White (1974).
The rapid rise in population in the developing world between 1970
and 1980 made the impact of disasters originating from natural
hazards more exposed to the global academic and research
community. Introduction of personal computers and formation of
Internet made the exchange of information a norm in the study of
sciences. The rapidly rising population in the developing world is
settled in marginal land where impact of disasters is felt more and
number of deaths and injured have increased to alarming heights.
The death toll from 1973-74 Sahel drought were in the millions,
most of the dead in the 1970 Bangladesh cyclone were poor living
on the beach front, majority of the 1976 China earthquake victims
were living in mud houses. By 1980s hazards were also making an
impact in Europe and USA where high living standards were a
norm.

This trend continued into 1980s and terrorism and rogue states
became places of killing grounds of many innocent people in cross
fire. Between 1 and 2 million non-active population were killed
and wounded between 1980 and 2000 by acts of terrorism. The rise
of religious fundamentalism added another dimension to hazards

16
studies. The study of hazards became the domain of all types of
scientists and institutions. The UN began the formation of disaster
response teams (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
UNHCR) and USA established FEMA (Federal Emergency
Management Agency). Soon all the developed countries joined
USA with the establishment of their own national and some times
regional disaster response organisations.

The 2004 December 26th South Asian Mega Tsunami, brought a

completely a new dimension to disaster originating from natural
hazards due to exposure of vulnerability of unplanned and
unprotected coastal settlements.
The emergence of new diseases and their rapid spread added
another dimension to hazards studies. Impact of Influenza
epidemics, Malaria, Polio, HIV Aids, Ibola fever, Avian Flu on
populations of the developing world made the developed world to
wonder about the destructive power of disease in a globalised
world. The fast aeroplanes and easy immigration laws in the 1990s
increased the risk of spread of communicable diseases in the
developed world. Reports of Malaria in and around the airports of
the developed countries and suspicion of transportation of animal
disease viruses by dust laden wind from the desertification of
Sahel, brought another important perspective to the study of
hazards and disasters.

System of disaster management is conducted by three major

organisational systems

Institutional system of disaster management - bureaucratic

organisation
Business system of disaster management – service industry
Grass root/ Participatory systems of disaster management -

Institutional system of disaster management – bureaucratic

organisation

This system is operated through the offices of the government and

its auxiliary services. For example the largest single organisation
of disaster management of the world is present in USA where all
sectors from President to local philanthropic organisations are
linked into one.
Business system of disaster management – service industry
Business system of hazard management is a multimillion-dollar
service industry, which supports the institutional and grass root/
participatory systems of disaster management through specialised
services and equipment.

17
Grass root/ Participatory systems of disaster management – This is
the oldest system of hazard management which relies on traditional
and local self-help systems, supported by religious and traditional
threads of society.

Disaster in changing global environment

By the time we entered the latter half of the 20th century society
has become an extremely powerful force, affecting nature and its
dynamics leading to chaotic behaviour of natural things. In
addition society was changing so rapidly a crisis was formed
between the established norms and ethics. This change of living
environment became a great challenge to science and other belief
systems of the society.

Most of the population of the world live on flood plains and coastal
lowlands. Alaskan Tsunami, Hurricane Andrew and Northridge
earthquake in USA, Kobe earthquake in Japan and the south Asian
Tsunami of 2004, showed the depth of vulnerability of human
population to disasters associated with natural environment.
Poverty and ethnic cleansing in Africa, globalised terrorism and
gluttony of the elite in developing countries have become more
disastrous than the natural environmental disasters causing massive
loss of wealth.

The emergence of management science led to the formation of

many types of management systems, which were capable of
providing answers to disaster management. Environment also
became a focus of management as the demand for natural
resources have risen to unimaginable heights. The experiments
conducted in countries like Switzerland, which utilised its
knowledge on snow and ice became a leader in disaster
management through conducting search and rescue which enabled
them to save many more lives than before. The methodology and
technique used in these disaster control helped their industry to
produce special equipment which brought them valuable foreign
exchange and fame. This type of thinking led to the idea that
disasters can be managed and the loss of property and life can be
minimised with the use of scientific management. The production
of special listening and photo devices which will warn of
landslides, mud flows, tsunamis, planning an explosion by
terrorists, nuclear disaster, anti-collision- systems for air planes,
side impact resistant systems for cars today save many hundreds of
people who would have been killed otherwise.

One of the best examples of disaster planning came from 9/11

disaster where the inclusion of the possibility of air craft collision
with the World Trade Centre Towers in New York. This inclusion

18
of the factor of aircraft collision in the design resulted in the saving
of about 3000 lives within and around the building as the buildings
stood for many minutes before their final collapse. And when even
they collapsed they collapsed in a vertical way down preventing
any lateral damage. Most of the earthquake victims in the
developing world die of lateral fall of weakly constructed walls of
the buildings with more than one floor. It is estimated that between
January 2000 and December 2005, about 25 to 30 billion US
dollars of property damage was prevented and 3000 lives were
saved through the application of hazard management techniques in
USA. The best story comes from the south Asian Tsunami of
December 2004, in which a schoolteacher from Eastern Sri Lanka
saved about 40 people from drowning, because he read about the
warning signs of Tsunami (that water recedes before the onslaught
of the big Tsunami wave) in a journal article about 4 years before
the day of the Tsunami.

Every disaster has a level to which it can be managed

and today most of the societies have access to these
systems of management and it is the intention of this
book to provide a very simple insight in to the

19
Chapter 2

Disaster Management Systems

In this book disaster management systems are studied in relation to

developing world status where there is no organized system of
disaster management other than in well established multi-national
businesses. Disaster is an event which is extremely difficult to
study and analyse by conventional scientific means as the scientists
themselves may be at risk from disaster, disaster data base is
generally unreliable and there is a vast difference in the data
produced by different agencies. Therefore most of the time disaster
management becomes an activity, which requires additional
resources, which cannot be comprehended at the time of pre-
planning. This is why all systems of disaster management have one
or many back-up systems in their operational system.

Development of disaster management systems

Disaster was looked upon as nature‟s will or god‟s will by the early
inhabitants, and they prayed and demanded protection from
disaster. This practice is conducted even today in the developing
countries by countless millions as the public institutions are
incapable of protecting the masses from most of the disasters. For
example listening to the prayer at the shrine will teach you that all
the deities can protect you from all the disasters except the
disasters generated by „the forces of the sun and wind‟. This may
be explained as deities cannot protect someone from geological
forces, which originate from the basic processes of sun and the
wind. Then deities can protect you only from the disastrous forces
originating from societal systems.

The early civilizations managed to utilize both physical and human

planning systems to combat disaster. Embankments, ditches and
walls were used in the early civilizations of China, Egypt and
Mesapotamia. Settlement based environmental planning system
was used in the Rajarata civilization of Sri Lanka, which enabled
the maximum utilization of available resources of a dry zone
environment. (Read CS 1).
(CS 1 / Gama and Weva (Gama Kalamanakarana kramaya –
gamparisara) Settlement planning system of environmental
Management: A time tested programme for areas with
seasonal drought. (In an earlier documentation this was
termed Tank Cascade System, Seneviratne, 2006)

20
 ( the term Weva is used in the following presentation as tank is not
suitable for the reservoir which was constructed not only to store
water, but to fulfil many other requirements of the area which it is
situated)

Gama saha Weva system of environmental management is one of

the best sustainable solutions to seasonal drought, which is
practised today in a more modernised form in many developed
countries for irrigation, power generation and urban water supply.
This system is capable of providing a system, which is universally
acceptable in environmental management.

The system practised in Sri Lanka during the period of ancient

civilisation was designed to fulfil the following requirements.
1. Collect high runoff from the catchments where rocky ridges and
hardpan latosols resulted in high rate of runoff during
thunderstorms and depressional rain. Both rocky ridges and
hardpan latosols have low infiltration and very low percolation
capacity. An experiment conducted in Mihinthale area between
October 2005 and May 2006 revealed that between 80 to 90
percent of the runoff from the two 2 sample sites (forest cover and
cultivated) were released into the streams or interfluve clay pans.
2. Stabilise the surface ground water flow in the catchment to support
a system composed of forest, shrub, grassland, village, tank and
cultivated areas. The experiment indicates that the stabilisation is
present in the areas with more than 60 percent forest cover.
Field surveys revel that most of the ratios are between 1: 0.6: 0.2
and 1: 0.5: 0.5. The ratio between forest and shrub forest (supplied
household requirements of firewood, medicinal products and
construction material) was highly controlled and stable. Higher
ratios between forest and shrub forest were found in the
catchments with higher spring levels indicating that the areas with
higher spring levels were conserved more strictly than the other
areas.

It is the theory of micro-drainage which was put to use by this

system. The first order weva (Kulu Weva) were followed by the
second order weva (Kuda weva) and the third order weva (Maha
Weva) were the last in the system though many complex patterns
are present within the weva hierarchy. There is a relationship
between the weva order and stream order as the experiment
indicated. The first order weva were constructed on the 4 th or
higher order (Strahler, 1967) streams at the field mapping level.

Most of these appear as 1st or 2nd order streams in Aerial Photos

and mostly as 1st order in 1:50,000 topographic sheets. These 1st

21
order streams increase their dimension to 5th or sometimes 6th order
after a total rainfall of 200 millimetres during the rainy season. The
geomorphology of the area contributes to this increase through two
major factors identified in the Rassagala and Bulankulama micro
catchments. Firstly, the slopes of the upper catchments of Kulu
Weva on the Erosional plains of the North Central Plains have
upper catchment slopes between 1:100 and 1:300. These slopes are
quickly saturated under high intensity thunderstorm rain as the thin
organic soil is underlain by a thick latosol layer which is not very
permeable. Rainfall intensities over 6o millimetres/hr, which are
common in the thunderstorms of the area during the first rains in
October start the flow of water to the 1st order streams and low
slope angle constructs many winding 1st order streams through the
leaf litter. The experiment conducted produced following data
from the Rassagla catchment.

Table 2.1 Development of ephemeral streams and rainfall

Site 1 Ground cover Rainfall Stream
order
Rassagla 1 Shrub forest 0 1
Rassagla 1 Shrub forest 80 2
Rassagla 1 Shrub forest 200 5
Rassagla 1 Shrub forest 300 6

Table 2.1 Development of ephemeral streams and rainfall

Site 2 Ground cover Rainfall Stream
order *
Rassagla 2 Teak Plantation 0 1
Rassagla 2 Teak Plantation 80 2
Rassagla 2 Teak Plantation 200 2

Rassagla 2 Teak Plantation 300 2

* uneven surface produced by land preparation results in heavy
ponding and reduces the out flow to streams. In total about 40 to
60 percent of the water in the teak plantation are converging into
these pools and evaporate.
Data (table 2.1 and 2.2) indicate that the undisturbed shrub forest
absorb a large quantity of water to the limit of about 80
millimetres, before starting the stream flow, but the streams in the
teak plantation area cannot flow properly as disturbed micro-slopes
construct pools on the surface. The 1st and 2nd order streams in this
identification are truly ephemeral unless fed by an artificial source
22
like wastewater from a settlement or cultivated land. The 3 rd and
4th order streams flow between 1 to 3 days after rain from middle
of November to mid January.
The system is not always simple and there were complex
construction systems to handle local situations, which demanded
special techniques. These local situations arose from the variations
of rock type, soil cover, slope and land use. The experiment
showed that micro-slopes were responsible for loss of water to the
stream and to weva. The average slope in most of the cascades is in
the region of 1:10,000 to 1:25,000, where a slight variation in slope
will result in accumulation of water in the micro-basin type
formations on latosols. During the experiment it was clear that a
rise of slope by 2 to 3 inches locally would lead to heavy blockage
of water flow to the stream.

Then it was paramount that the settlement, cropland, shrub land

and forest were kept in pristine condition. The most important
disturbance to the regular flow of water into the stream system
generally originates from human activities.

Firstly, the settlement in this system was located in a high ground

besides the weva or cultivated area. This prevented wastewater,
seepage of sewage residue and animal waste and other types of
solid and liquid waste entering weva. Further the location allowed
the settlement to direct its wastewater into some type of
wastewater pond, which was used as a recycling unit. Non-
existence of chemical waste may have allowed these ponds to be
non-toxic and some types of plants and fish may have been used in
this organic recycling or cleaning system. There is evidence that
craft industries like iron, silver and paint production were situated
in special locations where waste water was treated before
discharge into canal or ela.

Secondly, though it is not very clear, inscriptions and designs of

the sacred and built up areas of the ancient civilisation support an
existence of a highly developed hydrological management system.
The wastage of water was controlled with heavy legal and
communal commands and user-friendly system was maintained.
Rocky ridges were not utilised for settlements and they were either
fully conserved or kept in the custody of monks, who managed the
area in pristine condition. The experiment conducted on these areas
indicate that the rock ridges under the care of monks had about 4 to
6 times more springs than the areas closer to other types of
settlements. The specific purpose of the shrub, forest and the
upper catchment of weva were defined by law and tradition and the
law breakers were punished.

23
This system was capable of maintaining a population of about 5
million 8 million between the period of 100 and 1100 AD, when
the civilisation was in full bloom. National plan for the civilisation
was in operation with periods of rapid and slow phases of weva
building, resettlement in the peripheries and inter-basin water
transfer (Paranavitane, 1959).

Today the total disregard for the Gama saha Weva system originate
from the public sector planning of settlements (including
Resettlement programme since 1930), construction of roads and
railways, establishment of forest plantations, construction of large
government and private sector institutions, waste dumping and
land fill since independence. These activities have increased the
regular blockage of 1 st, 2nd and 3rd order streams in the area,
destroyed some of them totally and redirected water to local
depressions where they accumulate and evaporate, thus seriously
starving the 1st order weva system. It is clear that the present
civilisation of the wet zone has never managed to understand the
principle of environmental management of the ancient civilisation
though rhetoric is evident in all types of utterances and unscientific
publications. It is time that we attempt to understand that it is not
only the existence of the Gama saha Weva system which made
possible for the development of the dry zone civilisation, but the
hydrological management system in operation through various
royal instructions and laws, which defined the terms of water
conservation and water use. Existence of officials like dolos-
maha-vatan, va-vajarama, vel-kami and compensation paid for
loss due to royal order clearly indicate this existence of an efficient
management system. If the orders of the palace were not conducted
properly the officials responsible were punished. Then it is clear
that this system of management was user friendly, community
oriented, but strictly legal and orderly (Paranvitane, 1959). The
king himself was well educated on his duties and was under the
guidance of council of ministers and high dignitaries.
We must understand the value of drainage and hydrological
management if we are to solve the major problem in Sri Lanka and
prevent the destruction caused to regular flow of streams in the dry
zone during the wet season. The present planning system or the
legal system is not built on this type of regularisation and today we
are forced to depend on inter-basin water transfer. However, it is
clear that we are even unable to maintain a well operational inter-
basin water transfer system at present due to poor upper watershed
management. There is chaos in the drought control system and it is
high time we understand that this problem can be solved only
through a well-managed scientific system and not by just feeding
the area with water from somewhere as we do today.

24
The management of environmental hazards require a holistic
approach, where the physical hazards are controlled through
technical expertise and the societal organisation required for the
stabilisation of environment is to be conducted through the
implementation of laws and regulations and development of
positive attitudes. Therefore, environmental hazards management
programme requires the support of an organisational framework
with knowledge and authority if it is to support the survival of
humanity.)

The construction of the Imperial Canal in China (to divert excess

water of the south to the North), Great Wall (to stop the invasions
of Mongols), Levees along Nile and Euphrates (to control
flooding) are more than 2000 years old. CS 1 indicate that the use
of a planned settlement with a surrounding shrub and forest
supported by a detailed system of laws and regulations have reduce
drought and flood disaster to a minimum in the ancient Rajarata
Civilisation of Sri Lanka.

The scientific development in modernization led to the formation

of capabilities in disaster control in the developed world. European
systems of Swiss and north European regions managed to install a
mix system of engineering and agronomic measures with strict
adherence to law and regulations. These states succeeded in
controlling many disasters in their domains with the use of this mix
of systems and today they are taken as examples where disaster
impact is reduced to a minimum in the world.
USA with its extremely rapid development began detailed studies
on the impact of disaster and with the use of river basin
development model believed in the engineering systems and
engaged in the development of technology required for the future.

However the Dust Bowl disaster in the early 1900 led USA a re-
think the strategies of disaster control and the scientist began to
adopt a more ecological view (Burrows, 1920). 1936 the US
Congress passed the bill on Flood Control Act and construction
systems were favoured by the disaster managers. White (1945)
indicated the importance of management infused into construction
as a better methodology in management of disasters and favoured a
behavioural approach. His much used questionnaire on natural
hazard provided a basis for digitization of data on environment
based on percentage values. Hewitt (1983) indicates that this
approach is characterized by three major approaches in disaster
management.

1. application of scientific knowledge in disaster management

2. use physical and human control measures where necessary

25
3. use of armed forces in the emergency response

This is still the dominant view in disaster management but this

approach is continually re-organised through the application of
more society oriented methods.

By mid 1970s an alternative approach to disaster management was

installed through inclusion of role played by individual action. The
arrival of this approach was necessary because there was a massive
increase in disasters in the developing world which were not truly
of physical origin. Developing countries have faced many hazards
because they have unplanned settlements and local knowledge is
not used in public programmes of disaster mitigation. Further the
effect of disaster is felt more in the developing world because of
the inability of their public institutions to organize long term
programmes as they have alienated the local knowledge, use of
scientists in the field and grassroots knowledge in disaster
management.

The behavioural approach has failed in the developing world

because the corruption in the governance has led to non-adherence
to scientific method of utilisation of resources of the natural
environment. Most of the world organizations and funding
authorities have indicated that inability to install economic and
environmental sustainability in the developing world is a case of
this public sector mismangement and disasters are intensified due
to this mismanagement. For example the massive damages
occurred in the 2003 Rathnapura floods and 2006 October-
November rainy season in Sri Lanka, is due to construction on
stream reserves and not listening to scientific advice both by the
populace and institutions. The structuralist aim to use poverty
alleviation and a community based disaster management, which
again is made difficult due to corrupt local and regional
organizations, which have no place for scientific evaluation.
The future of disaster management is well organized in the
developed world with the use of scientific method and local
participation. The story of disaster management in developing
countries is in a state of flux which has not found its direction
mainly due to corruption in the institutional and local management
systems. Therefore future looks bleak for the developing world as
disasters emanating from climatic change; increased geological
activity and societal crisis will increase rapidly in the next 25 to 50
years. This is the case of Sri Lanka where the public sector is yet to
install a working disaster management system in the country,
though it has a fairly good relief provision system. The people talk
of „flood vehicles‟, tsunami houses‟ and „landslide cars‟ in
reference to vehicles bought and houses build by many categories

26
of workers of the public and private sector, through engaging in
corrupt practices during relief work related to disaster.

The behavioural approach has failed in the developing countries

and they are yet to find a solution to disaster management. Today
most of the developing countries operate a wait and relief system.
This is an excessively expensive system where cost of
compensation and rebuilding affects not only the merger financial
resources of the public organizations, but sudden redirection of
funding results in a loss to the regional and sometimes national
economy. Further, the trauma of the incident will continue in the
affected well beyond the physical relief and rehabilitation and
poverty is increased of the affected. For example listening to the
stories of affected of 2003 Kalu, Gin and Nilwala floods and
landslide disasters in Sri Lanka reveals the misery of the affected,
where most of the affected have many complaints of not receiving
proper relief and aid until 2006. Some of the foot bridges in the
rural areas destroyed by the floods are yet to be rebuilt making
their daily journeys seriously hazardous, the housing
reconstruction is not properly managed and the roads are not
properly repaired. The trauma of loss of family member and
disability caused by serious injury lingers on.
The structural paradigm (Emel and Peet, 1989) was in existence in
the developing countries during the times of early civilization. For
example in Sri Lanka, the monarchial system of governance had a
disaster management system based on settlement planning as
indicated above under the topic CS 1 / Gama and Weva. The early
civilization has faced many serious droughts and famine as given
in Mahawamsa. The weva cascade system was the first line of
defense against drought and famine and when it failed in a
continuing drought of more than three years the civilization could
not adjust within it domains and the system of disaster
management guided the king to expand into new areas of
settlement. Sometimes, the disaster has led to abandonment of
some of the frontier regions and populace was accommodated in
refugee camps in the nearest available area which was not affected
by drought or flood. Massive floods were rare under peaceful
conditions but at times of war, the purposeful destruction of wev
bunds have resulted in disastrous floods. The technology used in
the construction of weva and weirs (amuna) indicate that there was
pre planning for heavy floods which occur in intervals of 10, 20,
50 and 100 years. The 1957 floods indicate that most of the
medium sized weva is not capable of controlling 50 year and 100
flood. This is why the location of settlement was properly planned
with an aim of reducing damage to a minimum. The dearth of
records on massive disasters during the times of ancient kingdom
in many records kept is due to the reason that the environment and

27
disasters were properly managed in it, specially through the
construction of the settlement away from the most possible
disaster.
The environment – man relationship was maintained through a
strict enforcement of law, which prevented continuity of disasters
and reduced the human and capital cost to the economy. The
following evidences from the inscriptions and pronouncements
indicate the strength of the belief which prevailed in a highly
organized like in a developed world of modern times, which
controls the environment-man interface through strict environment
systems.

The following abstracts found and provided by Lagamuwa, (2007),

Head of Department, Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
indicate the management system of the ancient kingdom of
Rajarata.

Total environment: with reference to the environment in and

around the settlement

“In every settlement it is prohibited to cut timber, kill animals,

erect new construction and pollute water within a circumference of
60 feet. It is designated as an intermediate zone between the
settlement and forest”

The value of above imposition was to keep a stable organic

environment with a balance of living beings (which is not kept
today). This was possible as the settlement of the kingdom was
designed and structured in association with the environment.
Similar environmental laws are in force in the highly developed
western world and in countries like Malaysia and Singapore where
all human acts including planning of settlement is also conducted
according to strict environmental requirements.

“ in the 3rd century BC, it was prohibited to slaughter animals

within a circumference of 25 miles of Anuradhapura city ”

“In 12 th century AD, it was prohibited to slaughter animals,

fishing and cut timber within a circumference of 35 kilometers of
Polonnaruwa city ”

the above two edicts were aimed at preventing water pollution,

spread of disease and securing a religious environment.

The following of above edicts were possible because there was an

advanced level of environmental planning in the system of
governance.

28
The breaking of environmental law and edicts demanded heavy
punishment. The illegal felling of trees was punished by hard
labour related to tank building and restoration. These actions were
punishable by a fine or manual work.

“ illegal cutting of trees were punished by a fine or cutting and

repairing an area equal to about 48 cubic meters of weva”.
Mihinthale Pillar Inscription, King Mihindu IV.
“ the palm, coconut, tamarind and Mee trees on Mihinthala hill
should not be cut or removed. The persons including the royal
servants who break this law should be punished by a fine and the
income collected should be given to the temple” Mihinthala Pillar
Inscription, King Sena II, AD 853-887.

The technology of water management was the core of the success

of the kingdom.

“ The sluice of Tissa weva should be closed nine days after harvest
in the fields of Isurumuniya and allow it to fill again. Then the
remaining water can be released first to the temple and surrounding
area and any excess water should be released to Malwathu Ela. In
addition the land belonging to the temple should not be taken over
by anyone.”
Wessagiriya Inscription, Mihindu IV, 956-973.

“ 2 Aka (an older currency) was fined for flooding of paddy fields
(over use of water), before ploughing (there was a set standard for
ploughing). If ploughing was not done correctly the person at fault
was fined with one Kalang of gold. If the ploughing was not done
as prescribed the person at fault was fined 5 kalangs of gold.”
( the detailed activities, edicts and laws are given in Appendix 1 in
Sinhala)

The modern structualist view is practiced in most of the developed

countries where there is free and fair access to information and
governance is people friendly. The scientific research and
information dissemination is at a very high level of development in
these regions where people are continually consulted and informed
about disaster vulnerability in an environment where physical and
societal change has become a common affair. However the
complexities arising from lack of technology and inefficient public
service system in the developing countries result in poor usage of
the structuralist paradigm. These countries have to depend on
developed countries for their methods and techniques of disaster
management as socio-political corruption in them have prevented
them being capable of development of technology and
methodology of disaster management. This increase in hazard

29
vulnerability in the third world has been noted by Torry (1979)
and Susman et al (1983). Poverty, technical change, technical
dependency and unequal trade arrangements were given as reason
by above authors for the existing high vulnerability of third world
population. Sen (2000) identifies lack of freedom from global and
local market forces as a primary reason form underdevelopment
and hunger and indicates disaster risk in the developing countries
is much higher than in developed countries.

Behavioural approach provides a framework for practical hazard

control while structuralist approach attempts to reduce the risk of
disaster through control of poverty. Then the best disaster control
has to be conducted in a way that there is a fusion between the two
approaches, which will facilitate the reduction of effect of factors
responsible for disaster and through use of technology. However,
in the developing world countries where there is high rate of socio-
political corruption, disregard for scientific approach and neglect
of local knowledge, disasters continue to increase the damage to
life and property. This neglect and nonchalance has resulted in
excessive trauma and suffering of the populace during after
disaster situations. It is estimated by UN and related agencies that
about an average of 10,000 people die and property worth of 300
to 600 billion US dollars are damaged in the developing world.
However, experts on disaster management believe that the loss of
life may be about a thousand to two thousand and property damage
will be about 30 to 50 billion US Dollars if proper disaster
management is utilized in these countries. A recent field visit to a
landslide site at Paradeka, Central province, Sri Lanka revealed
that the people who were killed in the slide were watching the
debris clearance from an unsafe distance (environmental illiteracy).
Steep retaining angle kept by road construction (not adhering to
scientific data) and disregard for dip of rock in stabilizing the slope
(not utilizing scientific data) were the major reasons for slump type
falls along the road under construction. It is clear that the study of
theory of disaster management systems is not relevant in the
planning systems developing countries and in Sri Lanka, but the
aim of the above discussion is to provide the available information
on approaches to disaster management.

Present system of disaster management in the developing countries

depends on institutional help, when necessary, but most of the time
the loss of life and property damage is not fully supported by them.
After an initial period of help and relief the institutional system
fade away and the victims have to depend on their local or relative
help systems to see an end to their suffering. Recently the
involvement of NGO‟s have eased the sufferings of many as major
international support programmes are reluctant to fund public

30
systems in the developing countries as these public systems have
visible high levels of corruption. The case of Tsunami funding in
all the countries in Asia except for Malaysia and Singapore are
questioned by international auditing organizations, and even after
almost two years after the Tsunami most of the people are
dissatisfied on the support they have received. In the case of
Tsunami it should be remembered that about 25 percent of the
pledges made by the developed countries are yet to materialize into
action. Then it is not incorrect to say that the disaster management
system of the developing world and in Sri Lanka is in a state of
confusion, which has resulted in a high impact on the general
economy leading to poverty of nations, regions, localities and
persons.

System of disaster management is conducted by three major

organisational systems

Institutional system of disaster management - bureaucratic

organisation
Business system of disaster management – service industry
Grass root/ Participatory systems of disaster management –

It indicates the value of basic research, which leads to minimise the

loss of life. In the last 20 years USA (government and people) lost
about 2000 billion dollars worth of property due to natural
environmental and societal environmental disasters and the loss of
life is estimated to be 15200 (excluding traffic accidents). This is
due to continuous research and adhering to a scientific settlement
planning and warning system on disasters.

Work schedule of the US Disaster Management Control System

Study/Research
The basic research on disaster management is conducted by the
University system and technical research centres and these results
are fed into the national research centres and warning centres.
University research scientists and people also head the national
research centres with research degrees in their respective fields.

Monitoring/Warning

Data for monitoring and warning is gathered by all research

organisations and analysed with the help of specialists in the field
who are the University research scientists. When a hazard is
predicted the state authorities take over the warning system

31
through national television, radio network and Internet. Police will
travel around the most vulnerable areas warning people of the
locality. If the hazard is of national nature (the control of 9/11
World Trade centre Attack) the office of the president will control
it through FEMA (Figure 2.1) and special security services like
FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), CIA (Central Intelligence
Authority), NSO (National Security Organisation).

32
Figure 2.1FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY
(USA)

Home Land Security

Cabinet Member
THE
FEMA PRESIDENT Nation
US Ar
N.H.C
U.S.G.S State
NOAA Governor
N.W.C
PTWC
Police
University Research Centres Fire
P.T.W.C
Technical Research Centres Emergency
Volunteers
National and State NGO‟s
Media Warning System Philanthrop
Sp

People

33
 N.H.C - National Hurricane Centre
PTWC – Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre
U.S.G.S – United States Geological Service
NOAA - North American Atmospheric Authority
N.W.C – National Weather Centre
Normally conducted by the state authorities, but federal help is always
available. FEMA keeps a massive storage of food, water and medical
supplies in stock away from hazard zone and deliver when required.

Rehabilitation and Rebuilding

Normally conducted by the state authorities, but federal help is always

available. FEMA keeps a massive storage of food, water and medical
supplies in stock away from hazard zone and deliver when required.

Failure rate

Failure rate in Warning, Search, Rescue and Relief in this organisational

framework is estimated to be 10 to 12 percent. The most devastating and
damaging disaster in the history of USA occurred on the 28 th of August
2005. It destroyed an area of about 123,000 square kilometres (about
twice the size of Sri Lanka), but the death toll was below 2000. The
prediction was 80 percent accurate and most of the deaths occurred among
the people who refused to listen to the warning to evacuate.

Israel System (Figure2. 2)

Disasters resulting from flash floods, dust storms and war related
incidents are common within Israel. Constructed to control war related
disaster management, Israel has applied its system successfully to control
other natural and man-made disasters.
Local spotters and listeners work throughout the day in shifts listening to
distress calls. Once the distress call is located the local resource (single or
multiple units) rushes to the point of disaster. The whole country is linked
into one single system of emergency wavelength, which makes the
distress call is heard in all sectors of disaster management at once. But the
higher levels do not respond until they are called-in by the local group.
Local spotters then call all the local resources together to find the

place or magnitude of the disaster. If the disaster is beyond the capacity of

the local group they will call for outside help.
As soon as the local-group call is received by the National Centre it acts
with a full assistance programme. As the disaster management is the
responsibility of the Armed forces in Israel it works with the
highest efficiency possible. Their training in search and
34
rescue is one of the highest in the world, if not the highest. The duty
officer in the centre is authorised to use any resource available to him for
the job at hand and ask for approval later.

Figure 2.2 Israel System

Listener / Spotters

Information
systems
Local resources (local University/
guides and trained research
response teams – Institutions

National Disaster
Control Centre

(Controller on duty)

(Armed Forces)

This system works very well as local resources are utilised with precision.
For example this system utilises the support of Bedouin tribesmen in
search and rescue missions in the desert areas, where footprints are
covered by wind blown sand or flash floods.
The local military facilities are utilised in local disaster management
activities making access and transportation of victims much easier for the
controllers. This is possible as all adults in Israel are trained in military
activities and mobilised for disaster management.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is yet to establish a people friendly disaster management system

though we have formed a ministerial level organisation. However lack of
coordination and inefficiency in various public sector departments and
officials makes disaster response a highly inefficient activity.
Firstly the studies on disaster probability in Sri Lanka are not properly
studied even after warned by the scientists. Exact reason for this is
unknown but author‟s experience is that the corruption in the institutional
system refuses to listen to scientific and local advice and people have very
limited knowledge on disaster due to poor information system in primary
and secondary systems of education, where most of them have obtained
their highest educational qualifications.
Secondly, complaints, protests and reports made by local 35
people on local situations are not properly analysed and
evaluated by most of the authorities responsible. For example, there were
serious warnings by scientists, on the slope instability in and around
Peradeniya town, but neither people nor the institutions managed to take
note of them. The investigations carried out with the field class on the
aftermath of the slump at Peradeniya town the team managed to observe 6
more sites with loosened soil profile, but people continue to live and the
institutional organisation has just begun some settlement relocation.
However, the settlement planning should have been conducted at a much
earlier period.

Droughts of various kinds have a disastrous effect on village economies of

Sri Lanka, but lack of national Plan prevents the establishment of a
disaster reduction system. Disasters originating from Illegal Gem mining,
sand mining and tree felling can be listed second, third and fourth after
drought in Sri Lanka.

Financial corruption is the major societal disaster and number one

national disaster in all the developing countries including Sri Lanka.
Marketing of farm produce is a disaster which leads to even suicides in Sri
Lanka, but the governments since independence have failed to establish a
proper marketing system for farm produce making it the major societal
disaster in Sri Lanka.

Business system of disaster management – A Service industry

This is where the disaster managers complete their education as the

scientist becomes a manager or manager becomes a scientist through
further education. The developed countries have incorporated disaster
management into their normal development plans and continue to be
ready for disaster. This is because that they believe proper national
planning is able to reduce the intensity of disasters.

In the developing countries lack of proper national planning leads those to

conduct haphazard development which results in heavy damage to settled
environment at a time of disaster. The planning of rural and urban
settlements in the developing world are not conducted according to the
principles of modern development methods or properly researched
traditional methods, which results in failure in construction and
environment quality. The lowering of construction quality results in
massive damage during natural disasters originating from earthquakes,
cyclones and tornadoes. The lack of proper programme on preparedness
of populace for disasters in the developing countries results in the increase
of the scale of disaster. Therefore the societal weaknesses also contribute
to the depth of disaster in the developing countries. The systems used in
the developing countries are mostly top-down and have only very little
connection with the people and generally this approach to disaster
management results in the acceleration of the depth of the disaster.

Business system of disaster management is part of human resource system

of a business organization. The success or failure of a
business organization depends on its ability to hire manpower 36
required by the organization. In addition disaster management
has become one of the popular fast developing businesses in the modern
world. Therefore, firstly, the disaster management has become a part of
business management and secondly, business has organized an income
generation enterprises from disaster management.

Business disaster management systems are involved in many types of

activities from fire prevention to protecting intellectual property. The
scale of operation of the business of disaster management is vast and
highly lucrative for the industry as the application of knowledge from the
science of disaster management saves massive amount of property and life
in all types of industries of the world. It is estimated that the savings from
the use of disaster management principles industry amounts to about 6 to
7 billion US Dollars in the developed world and loss in the developing
world is estimated to be about 10 to 12 billion US Dollars.
An examination of business of disaster management in the developed
countries enables us to study successful systems and utilize them in case
of disaster in developing countries (Figure 2.3)

Disaster management knowledge

Planning

Construction
Low losses

Operation

Maintenance

Figure 2.3 Relationship between disaster management knowledge and loss

Planning stage: this is the first stage in which business systems prepare for
disaster management. The type of disaster the business may face will vary
between financial to loss of property by fire. However, the loss due to
unplanned disaster will be the responsibility of the disaster manager
(mostly operations manager handles disaster management in most of the
businesses) of the business. Therefore the value of disaster management is
clearly stated in the advanced learning systems of business management
under human resource management and strategic planning.

Information on disaster management is given at the time of training and

constantly updated using rewards. Importance of disaster management
increases as the risk level of the business is increased and the nature of
products changes from durable to soft.

Risk level of business: Risk level of business depends on the product or

the service provided by the business, system standards in
operation and level of legal enforcement. 37
Product or the service provided by the businesses in the developing world
is known to be of lower standards and lead to more disaster situations.
The graphic evidence provided below is a result of many surveys
conducted in Sri Lanka over a period of two years by a group of MBA
students.

120

expected - 0 to 100
100
Level of damage 80
60
40
20
0
1 2 3
Category (refer text for details)

hard soft financial conflict

Figure 2.4 Level of disaster counted on three categories (Table 2.3)

Table 2.3 Level of disaster counted on three categories

Category Damage level Percent

1 Low 0 - 24
2 Moderate 25 - 74
3 High 75 and above

Categories used here are based on White (1976) as given in table 2.3.
Lowest risk is associated with the production and marketing of hard
goods, which are durable, easily stored and used for specific purpose. The
businessmen dealing in this type of goods have reported the lowest effect
by disaster as about 82 percent of them manage to recover their goods
after an impact of disaster.

Businesses dealing with soft goods have faster rise in their damage level
as the damage to their goods accelerate after initial decay. For example
vegetable grower, transporter and retailer loose large amounts of finances
if there is heavy rain, high heat or transportation breakdown. Media
reports revealed that the vegetable growers of Central and Uva provinces
have lost about 200 to 300 million Rupees during the ultra wet period of
2006 October-November, due to heavy rain and blockage of roads by
landslides. Total loss due to damage to soft goods during Tsunami of
20041226 was estimated at 2 to 3 billion Rupees.

Businesses operating in financial systems are always at risk 38

from situations like „bad loans‟ „bad management‟ and bad
investments‟. For example in Sri Lanka bad management and bad loans
has destroyed all State owned banks and limited their financial capability
to support the larger economy. However, the assistance and recovery
grants from the government has kept them operating with limited
capacity. About 200 to 300 cases of business bankruptcies are reported
annually in Sri Lanka with many enterprises in the category of small scale
businesses going bankrupt due to poor market survey, financial
mismanagement and disaster. Poor market survey is one of the major
reasons for small scale bankruptcies in Sri Lanka as most of these
businesses do not conduct a preparatory market survey and start their
business with an idea that they can earn a living from the business.
Secondly due to addiction to alcohol or try to follow the life style of big
business some of the small scale businesses reach their bankruptcies.
About 30 percent of the bankruptcies in the small scale businesses
originate from a disaster related to family or weather. In a survey
conducted during the 2006 October-November heavy rains revealed that
61 small scale businesses and 12 medium scale businesses were closed for
an indefinite period of time due to landslides (Table 2.4).

Table 2.4 Reasons for failure

Percent of bankruptcies Reason given by the respondent/or

informant
42 Poor market survey
28 Financial mismanagement
30 Disaster

The cumulative rate of loss from financial service mismanagement is

higher than the loss from hard and soft product systems. This is because
the financial services rest on their capacity to meet the sudden demand for
funds. Therefore, loss of trust by customers on the basis of inability to
provide quick services makes losses in a financial business. For example,
weak state owned banking system in Sri Lanka suffers continuously from
this type of failures and looses a massive amount of savings and
investment capital.

The highest level of losses occurs in business when they are affected by
conflict and war. The estimated loss to the Sri Lanka economy from 1983
to 2005 from conflict and war is estimated at about 6500 billion Rupees
without counting on the losses made by the loss of about 60,000 to 70,000
lives. Two world wars (1918 and 1939) have destroyed business
properties valued at about 45,000 billion US Dollars and at present there
is an annual loss of businesses valued at about 20 billion US Dollars by
war and conflict. Today war and conflict is the major factor responsible
for loss of national financial resources in the world.

Even the developed world has fallen into this sad situation where
businesses loose large quantities of finance due to global
terrorism and their contribution to armed forces actions39
against selected terrorist targets. Daily the forces of the developed world
spent about 2 to 5 billion US Dollars (US= 1.5 to 2, UK= 0.5, other
nations (European, ANZAC, Canada and UN Peace Keeping Force)
collectively about 3 billion US Dollars to secure their nations from
terrorism.

The arms, airplane, pharmaceutical and vehicle manufacturing industries

benefit heavily from war and conflict and prosper. For example the
competition for regional superiority in the Indian sub continent has made
India to manufacture a modern stealth jet fighter with an investment of
more than 20 billion Indian Rupees, when about 30 percent of Indians live
below poverty line accepted by United Nations. This is a common scene
in the international political scene, where power and domination is
considered more important than humanity.

The three most disaster prone businesses are transportation, oil and
production of chemicals. The most disasters in transportation industry
occur in railway and bus accidents which amount to about two thirds of
the deaths. About 60 percent of the deaths and 70 percent of the injured
are reported from developing countries, where system standards are not
kept properly due to socio-political corruption. The reasons for accidents
given in Table 2.5 indicate that all the four top reasons

originate from lack of proper legal control on transportation by the

respective authorities. This results in serious traffic congestion, delays and
more accidents resulting in a loss of about 5 to 6 billion Rupee annual loss
to the economy of Sri Lanka.

The developed world uses strict enforcement, heavy fines, video evidence,
and cancellation of license and jail terms for the regularization of their
transportation business. The disaster ratio arising from transportation
business in Sri Lanka is 1:6 vehicles compared to USA where the ratio is
1:11. USA has about 600 million road vehicles while Sri Lanka had only
about 4 million vehicles.

Table 2.5 Factors responsible for transport related accidents (450

accidents and five major factors)

Factor Category Percent

Over Speed No proper legal 41
control
Carelessness No proper legal 30
control
Not following traffic No proper legal 11
code control
Poor vehicle No proper legal 10
maintenance control

40
Poor road use by 08
 pedestrians

In developed world, the business systems provide many types of disaster

management to cover all types of businesses. But in the developing
countries, disaster management is taken seriously only by multi-national
or high-income group of companies, which are involved in large scale
operations. This is primarily a result of low environmental literacy and
understanding on risk in private and public service systems. This type of
attitude prevents the use of scientific disaster management in the
developing countries, which is the only answer for the control and
management of disasters.

Grass root/ Participatory systems of disaster management –

Knowledge on disaster is first gained at home from the mother as she

warns the infant with the word „No‟. The infant learns to react to sound
of the mother and wait for her to warn of any impending disaster in his
life. Then the family members are recognized as helpers and school
becomes the main provider of information as the infant grows into a child.
Then the radio, TV, print and other electronic media supply the child with
information on his environment and disasters. At a later stage child will
gather information on traditional systems of disaster management and the
modern systems. However the functioning of this system depends on the
efficiency of the public information system and the business systems of
disaster management. The developed world has a well established system
on disaster management which supports and learn from the grass root/
Participatory system of disaster management, but due to inefficient
coordination between the grass root/Participatory and public service
system of the developing world, the developing world suffer from heavy
damage from disasters.

If the Grassroots/Participatory systems are well developed alongside

modern systems, they become highly applicable and suitable disaster
management systems. This is constantly being proved by the fact that well
disciplined families produce more of well-disciplined children than the
rest of the families. At the time of 20041226 Tsunami it was clear that the
use of local knowledge saved about 40 people at Kalkudah area, Sri
Lanka; a village in the coastal area of northern Sumatra as the people
knew of dropping sea level is a sign of a big wave, Indonesia and a group
of tourist in a beach in Thailand by the elephants running away from the
shore just seconds before the wave hit. The warning centers operated by
local fisherman‟s associations in southern India also helped to save many
people in Tamilnadu.

Author was warned by the driver of the department vehicle (who noticed
goats standing under a tree in a ring, which indicate an imminent arrival of
a powerful wind force) when he was returning from a field trip to Baga,
in the border between Niger and Nigeria on the shores of Lake Chad of a
massive sandstorm (Khamsin).

Traditions and belief systems have always had limits on 41

travel, food and social mixing, because these are the areas where most of
the unknowns are present. The prohibition of girl children to leave home
without an escort is a remedy made against preventing indecent assault or
rape. Restriction on some food items at certain times of the day or limit on
quantity according to maturity was practiced to prevent disease or
discomfort. Marriage between different ethnic groups, castes, classes and
religions are not readily supported by many communities of the world
today because of fear of emergence of disparity once the freshness of the
marriage is worn out.
Chapter 3

Types of disaster management systems

Traditional disaster management identifies disasters on the basis of

their relationship to natural and man-made systems, which will be
presented to the reader in the first part of this book. However in this
book an attempt will make to study disasters within a framework of
man: disaster interface, where the scale of disaster is treated as an
important factor in disaster management. This is because today it is
not the cause, but the scale of disaster, which decide the type of
management system required by a given disaster.

Traditional disaster management (Figure 3.1)

Traditional disaster management is based on the approach of

security and safety developed by the military system of disaster
management employed by monarchial or colonial system of
government. Though this is identified as a traditional system of
management, it formed the basis of present management system,
which uses democratic systems in place of old methods. Therefore,
the modern system differs from the old system only through the
change of operator and the methods employed by the operator.

The traditional system of disaster management depends on the

central authority to plan, be ready, face, provide relief and finally
help rehabilitation. In here the system depends on the decisions
made by the central authority for all activities of disaster
management.

42
Figure 3.1 Traditional Disaster Management Systems

King/ President/ Premier/ Council/ Governor/ Chairman/CEO

Police/ Army command Local

authority
Local Government
officials
Central Command
Philanthropists
Local leaders

Disaster control

Rehabilitation begins
Local groups

This system works well in the developed countries where communication

links are well maintained and specific instructions are readily placed with
all responsible persons or organizations involved in disaster management.
Only marginal problems of delay occur in this system in developed
countries because of the system is highly coordinated from the central
authority and whenever required ordered (Figure 3.1). The most recent
example for this type of operation was visible in the management of
Cyclone Katrina in USA. The progress of events is given below to show
the system of operation available under FEMA (Federal Emergency
Management Authority), the most extensive hazard management system
in the world.

Developing countries today have no specific system of disaster

management and utilize systems closer to traditional disaster
management. It is very difficult to categorise the systems available in
developing countries due to use of incorrect methodology and lack of pre-
preparedness. Further all disaster management activities in all the
developing countries are troubled by corruption as reported in the
documents of international funding authorities. This results in the failure
of disaster management and continuation of trauma in the majority of the
affected.
43
New disaster management
 New disaster management is constructed on the basis of
sustainability of the systems where the massive organizational framework
is supported by many regional and local networks. This is because big
government has always being plagued by bureaucratic failures due to its
many sectors which have inherent system failures. This was evident in
response to all major disasters of local, regional and national disasters. In
addition the failure of global organizations was evident in Sahel famine
and drought of 1983, Bangladesh cyclone in 1976 and recently in the
south Asian Tsunami.

This type of weaknesses results from failures in the established systems of

scientific knowledge, operational and human response.

Scientific knowledge system: Science is supreme in modern and post-

modern thinking and therefore any prediction without a proper scientific
base is not adhered to by institutions and community. This thinking has to
be seriously questioned in new disaster management thinking. Following
stories may clarify the reality of thinking though these thought patterns
may not be considered truly scientific.

Story 1
“I said that sinking the foundation to the corners (neriya) would have
reduced the disaster” was the response of the 73 year old mother of the
disaster shown in plate 1.

Plate 1

The destruction exhibited in Plate 1is due to poor foundation constructed

on a deeply weathered regolith and detailed investigation
44
conducted at the site revealed that the design of the structure
was not sufficient to bear the weight of the construction on a loose
regolith. The design adviser was a technical officer with design
knowledge only and he was not able to calculate the flow ratio of this type
of regolith. In addition none of the research orgnisations involved in
landslide research in Sri Lanka has provided people and local design
approval agencies with flow ratios for regolith. Then the conclusion is
that big government has failed in the training of technical officers and
providing vital information to people in the issuance of building permits.
However, like in all other developing countries, people of Sri Lanka have
no facility to challenge big government. Then the modern or post-modern
concept of science has failed in this case, by refuting the advice of the
mother and listening to the technical officer and plan approval authority.

Story 2

Scientists at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre were not ready to issue a
tsunami warning to Indian Ocean states on the 26th December, 2006,
because they had no direct data from the Indian Ocean. However, they
were of the notion that the earthquake was very powerful and had the
power to construct a massive tsunami. This is the basic weakness in
modern science in relation to disaster prediction, which depends on age
old statistics. Our scientific knowledge is very new, but its acceptability
depends on very old system of statistics, which were constructed to suit a
slow moving world where plate and climatic stability was the norm. We
cannot blame anyone of any organization for this type of delay as all our
training is based on the acceptability of logical and scientific facts only,
but it should be remembered that not all activities during the new era of
change ushered in by climatic and geologic changes can be studied within
a framework of modern science. Questions have to be raised on finding
new ways and means of predicting natural and man made disasters.

Story 3

“ they were standing downward of the mechanical digger which was

removing the freshly fallen slide debris and suddenly the whole block
shifted and in a moment I saw people getting buried alive” A bus driver
who watched the Paradeka slide from the drivers seat of

his bus parked away from the slide path. The motorists and pedestrians in
Sri Lanka has the habit of watching this type of activity dangerously close
to the site and three people died and four vehicles were seriously damaged
at Paradeka site.

Story 4

When we were on field class tour of Mathale, at Sudu Ganga Bridge a

motorcyclist was looking at the girls taking notes of the flow of the river
by the side of the road and did not see the motorcyclists in front and ran
into the back of the motor bicycle in front of him, causing damages to the
parking light. This is identified as one of the causes of traffic accidents by
the author after interviewing a sample of injured drivers and
accompanying people on the environment before the45
occurrence of the accidents. This has some relationship to the
clothing worn by the girls or their attractiveness which distracts drivers.
On the day of the accident described in this story girls were wearing tea
shirts and trousers, which is highly attractive to most of the drivers in Sri
Lanka as our culture limits tightly worn clothes (it was only about an hour
ago author was reminded of this type activity as another cyclists slipped
his foot when making an attempt to look at students).

Then a truly scientific system of analyzing and prediction of disaster is

not very useful in the reduction of disasters in a highly complex natural
and human situations experienced today specially in the developing
countries.

Where is the weakness: Failures in the established systems of scientific

knowledge?

Firstly, the weakness arises from lack of scientific governance which

leads to non-democratic system of social relations. This system of
governance results in blockage of transmission of scientific ideas of
disaster to people. For example present day settlement planning has to be
based on concepts of environmental change activated by geological and
climatic forces. In here the establishment of any new housing and
settlement system should consider latest geological data and climatic data
which show a period of high variability.
Form example the field class of the M.Sc. Environment Science,
Department of Zoology managed to identify the risk of excavations made
at Peradeniya town. A detailed field exercise conducted between 2005
April and 2006 December by the filed class of four groups of students at
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihinthale, Sri Lanka confirmed that
most of the flood and landslide damage occurred in this period was due to
poor design and failure in authorities responsible for issuing building
permits without referring to latest geologic and climatic data available.

Secondly, nonchalant attitude of the authorities responsible to adapt or

develop technology required in the development of high risk areas has
become a major weakness in the occurrence of disaster. This is a

common practice in all developing countries where local scientific

systems are not developed properly. Even if these systems are developed
the institutions are not capable of operationalising them due to
administrative and political interferences.

Thirdly, lack of scientific environmental planning is responsible for the

above presented two problems relating to disaster management because
lack of a holistic approach results in failure of disaster management,
which is a principal sub-system of environmental planning. It is very clear
from our experiences with the systems operated in the Ancient civilization
of Sri Lanka and the traditional beliefs in the present day society, that the
best methods of disaster management has to be constructed with use of a
mix from both the scientific and traditional belief systems.
46
Then the fear to go beyond structured science (Stories 1, 2
and 3) and not listening to other available systems makes hazard
management a difficult task for all types of communities, regions and
countries.

Where is the weakness: Failures in Operational systems –voluntary and

involuntary?
It is very clear that industrial and domestic disasters occur primarily as a
result of operational systems failures. This is because primarily these
failures are associated with machinery and utility goods.

Operational system is a scientific method for the sustenance of production

of goods and services. Firstly, user guides user guides or instruction
booklets given to users of products and services form the basis of
operational system. These are produced after a detailed study of the nature
and behaviour of the product or services. The studies on the use of these
user guides have shown that about 60 to 70 percent of the users will not
utilize them properly in the installation or use of the product or services.
Secondly, operationalising advice gathered from scientific or any other
reliable method has to be tested and utilized if the impact of disaster is to
be reduced to a minimum. However, in developing countries advice
gathered is not utilized properly or not directed properly towards disaster
management. For example in Sri Lanka a system of information
dissemination on disaster is yet to be installed and operated though there
are about 4 to 5 government departments engage in disaster control
research. The websites of this organization do not update their information
or issue warnings regularly and the users who are expected to
operationalised them are not in constant contact with each other.

Following stories reveal the true nature of utilization of operational

system information (user guides and scientific data).

Story 5
“ the user guides produced by the manufacturer were too technical for the
local airline maintenance crew and the authorities responsible were not
able to correct the matter” A crash investigation into a plane crash which
killed 63 people in Hawaii.

Story 6
“ the area around here is unstable, even during the British period the
plantation managers have not permitted any construction on this land.
However about 20 years ago the land was distributed among landless. See
what happened now, the whole area has slumped” Comment on Naketiya
slump slide, Naketiya, Sri Lanka, by a local elder.

Story 7
“ these are definitely a sign of some instability in the region and I think a
major slide is imminent, but we have no capacity to find the place as we
have no equipment and Universities are not consulted on these matters
until after the disaster” Author‟s comment to Field Class, 2001, M.Sc. ,
Environmental Science, University of Colombo, Colombo,
referring to small and medium scale soil falls, rock falls and47
slumps seen between Balangoda and Naketiya . (in 2002
October, a major landslide occurred at Puwakgahawela Ela, Belihuloya ,
which killed 6 people and destroyed property worth about 15 million
rupees and loss of livelihoods is estimated to be about 2 million annually
for the next 50 years as about 12 farmers lost their paddy fields).

Story 8
“ the emergency control switch was not serviced as advised in the manuals
and once the overheating of the reactor began the emergency shut-down
systems were not functioning, which led to the massive disaster”.
Technician who managed to save his life from the Chernobyl atomic
reactor melt down in 1986 (Discovery 2001).

Story 9
“ falling trees is the major cause of power loss in our area, but we are
helpless as we have no authority to remove them”, Manager of a village
are CEGB referring to frequent power failures.

Then the poor operational system utilization (Stories 5 to 9) and not

listening to new information within the operational systems makes hazard
management a difficult task for all types of communities, regions and
countries.

Human response: Failures in believing and listening to scientific and

belief system information and following advice given by respective
authorities on disaster is one of the weakest points in disaster
management. This basically arises due to two major reasons.

1. Feeling safe
2. Sarcasm towards scientific predictions

1. In relation to disaster most people generally feel safe until they are
faced with disaster. Firstly, it is the human nature to believe that there
is no danger as long as society does not encounter danger. This is
based
on the belief that society is expected to feel or know of danger. Further
most people believe that it is your fate, which will expose you to disaster.
In addition most of the people in the developing countries believe that it is
wish of God to encounter disaster, though all the established religions like
Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam reject this type of fatalism.
Concept of fate and power it has on life is definitely older than all the
established religions, but its control on human thinking in the developing
world is extremely powerful. This may be primarily due to helplessness
formed due to bad governance and corruption in them.

Story 10
“ Sea was our friend, we loved it and we never thought that sea would
take my wife and daughter away from me” person who lost his wife and a
daughter to 20041226 Asian Mega Tsunami. Weligama, Sri Lanka.

Story 11
“ Are they mad,Tsunami safety area here? If the water level48
reaches 20 feet, which it will be in the expected Tsunami, this
place will be under water and it is an enclosed area, people have no place
to run”, Tsunami expert‟s comment on safe areas provided for Tsunami in
the Pacific coast of Washington State.

Story 12
“We never thought that this deep soil can move. However, the rain was
the heaviest in about 50 years”. Person who encountered a loss of about
1.5 million Rupees in a slump which destroyed his three story house.

Story 13
„there was a huge low tide, people have gone to sea enjoying the dry land.
Then all hell broke loose” Tsunami survivour. Phuket, Thailand

Story 14
„Why concrete could not retain the slope? Question from a trader at the
site of the slump at Peradeniya town. Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

Story 15
“ We take that bus daily to work, but that day we missed it by about a
minute. We think that it is Lord Buddha who saved us” two people who
travel daily by bus to work referring to Yangalmodera collision which
killed 42 people. Yangalmodera, Alawwa, Sri Lanka.

Secondly, daily struggle for life of almost all the human beings except a
few super-rich, politicians and administrators guarded by advanced
systems of disaster control, makes them forget disaster. In the developed
world a well established system of disaster control and insurance is
available to society and they have a better knowledge on disaster
situations than the people of the developing world. In the developing
world people have to forget about disasters to work and live as their
political system has failed to provide an acceptable level of protection
from disaster.

2. Non-chalance and Sarcasm towards scientific predictions

Science of disaster is a very weak area of understanding and many

mistakes are encountered in prediction and control. This is because
disaster is an event which is formed from many complex factors and
present scientific knowledge is yet to become capable of fully
understanding disasters. This may also be a result of the weakness of
modern science as discussed earlier. The serious weaknesses in disaster
prediction and control in developing countries including Sri Lanka is a
result of not utilizing available knowledge base due to lack of national
planning, which prevents the development of scientific knowledge base
required by disaster management.

Story 16
“ In 1998, when I indicated that there is high risk for tourist 49
areas of Phuket from Tsunamis, I was fired from my job and
they have now put me in charge of Tsunami warning system”. Present
Head of Tsunami Warning System of Thailand, who was fired for
frightening people in 1998.

Story 17
“Though we cannot stop them we have the scientific knowledge to
control them and bring the impact to a level, which will not affect the
economy of a region or a country. As one of the authors has already
proposed since 1990s, a household based environmental conservation
programme must be initiated immediately to avoid more disasters of
this nature. The same author wishes to inform the policy makers and
public that the catchments of Maha Oya and Deduru Oya are also
seriously eroded in the upper reaches and sediment in the lower reaches.
A climatic occurrence similar to that which happened in the Denawaka
Valley moving across this catchment may cause a similar disaster. The
long-term data indicate the south-west monsoon is slowly shifting its path
in a North-North-West direction and this may bring a cloud mass and
block it between the Matale-Ambokka ranges and the lower ranges of
North-western plains resulting in a massive rain storm. This will create a
condition conducive to a major flood.” (Seneviratne and Karunaratne,
2003). The predicted floods came in 2006, but authors were not able
continue research due to lack of recognition given to the article.

Story 18
“A lot of people died in Sumatra, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka, because
they did not know warning signs, although we cannot bring them back, if
we help the public understand natural rhythms, we will help them survive
and help them live in harmony with the planet. We got to live in harmony
with the planet and Tsunami is a classic example of a clash between a
planet and humanity, and humanity lost. We think we run our lives and
we control our destinies. Planet controls our destinies.” (Austin, 2005).

Options of disaster management in developing countries

Developed countries have shown that they require only continuing with
their line of research and approach for disaster control systems in
operation in their countries. These countries have made adjustments to
suit the increased frequency of disasters due to geological and climatic
change, which has overtaken all human activities. They continue their
research into probable scenarios expected with a notion that development
of knowledge is the only way to control disasters in future. Further they
have put a high value in people centered systems in their approach to
disaster control to establish a serious connectivity to information
dissemination and to increase literacy on disaster management.

Two worst disasters in the recorded history of mankind occurred between

December 2004 and December 2006: Asian Mega Tsunami and Hurricane
Katrina. Total lives lost were estimated 250,000 in the Asian Mega
Tsunamis and 2000 in Hurricane Katrina. Estimated damage to property
in Asian Mega Tsunami was about 150 billion US dollars and in
Hurricane Katrina the damage was estimated to be about 25 50
billion US Dollars. However it showed that the intensity of
damage is related to lack of environmental control in the Asian Mega
Tsunami (refer to stories 16 and 18). and slow response of authorities and
people towards warning in case of Hurricane Katrina (story 19).

Story 19
National Weather centre records indicate that the prediction was correct
and their warning on Hurricane Katrina was about 80 percent accurate.
The prediction was that it will make landfall in the delta area of the
Mississippi with category four (4) strength. The area affected was too
large to be controlled with the available state and even resources
immediately available to FEMA were not sufficient to cope in a situation
where massive flooding occurred. Area affected was the size of United
Kingdom (about 9 times the size of Sri Lanka).

The levees were not ready according to experts and were neglected due to
higher spending on national security after the September 11th attacks on
World Trade centre in 2001.
Poor people of the area were not properly supported in transport and many
of them did not take the warning seriously and as one elderly women who
refused to evacuate commented “I have got my provisions and pray for
us”.

Email records of the operation of Huricane Katrina reveals that political

decisions of the State authorities and relegating FEMA to a non-cabinet
level organization by the White House were responsible for the slow
response to disaster.
Then there was crisis in information sharing and operation command until
Colonel Honore from the military was appointed for the conduct of the
relief operation.
Therefore following stages have failed in the disaster management system
during Hurricane Katrina in the economically most powerful nation in the
world.

1. Hurricane was predicted accurately as possible – science prevailed

2. Hurricane landed in the worst place possible and
a) levees were not ready – pre-planning failure
b) people were too confident – low environment literacy due to
poor evaluation guided by local belief system?
c) FEMA was ready but the hurricane was unexpectedly severs
– effect of climatic change – power of the unexpected event
d) Search and rescue operation was beyond the state level but
the decision to allow a higher authority to intervene was
delayed –human error? Inexperience?

Story 20

Heavy rains have resulted in landslides and floods in most parts of the wet
zone, eastern and south eastern dry zone and in the hill country of Sri lank
a resulting in damage estimated to be around 60 billion rupees. In addition
repairs to roads and other structures may take another 5 to 6 billion
rupees. The loss and damage to crops are also in the region of
billions of rupees. 51
Heavy floods occurred in Maha Oya and Deduru Oya
catchments and heavy sliding occurred with high level of damage due to
unscientific clearing of slopes as predicted in the article published in
2003.

Following information were provided to the nation by the author and his
co-researcher, which is part of a massive information system presented by
many scientists, in learned journals, general journals, news papers, laymen
and affected, radio and TV networks in the last five to ten years.

CSP 1

The New Village (Seneviratne, 1975)

Extract from - January 10th, 1975 – Daily News, p 6

The development and environment has begun to initiate many interests in

the field of economic development as the 1973 – 74-world drought has
made aware of the accelerating environmental degradation. The
developing nations are faced with the massive task of feeding the rapidly
rising population and increasing rich-poor gap. Lack of proper planning
has led to destruction of available land and other resources in the
developing world and it is clear that the future looks bleak.
The aim of this article is to inform planners and political leaders of our
nation that only a village based development programme is able to revive
our nations economic growth and stabilise the future status of our nation
as a developed country. The models taken to describe the process of
development needed are taken for some countries, which have used their
environment to be developed and stay developed.
In this programme the village as we know may not be always suitable as
the new village proposed here is to be a unit where sufficient amount of
local resources are available for a local economy to be established. In here
the existing small village units may be amalgamated and some large
village units have to be redesigned to suit the future. New village in the
latter half of the 20th century is to be a modern village with village
resources and crafts are developed aiming at local as well as international
market.

The village resources are of two major varieties. Firstly there are physical
resources of the village, such as its geomorphologic, vegetation and
hydrologic resources. Every village has its speciality in the available
physical resources. The finding of these resources have to conducted
using modern morphological surveys and specially a technique known as
geomorphologic mapping. Geomorphologic mapping is not only suitable
for finding the physical resources, but it can be used for the understanding
of the natural forces working within the villages unit. For example the
flood occurrence, slide probability and many other unstable forms
operating within the village such as gulling can be identified for this type
of survey.
In countries of the developed world they have already finished the
identification of the village based resources and risks in the environment
through this method. The growing science of Satellite
mapping is now aiding this work with rapid provision of new52
maps with risk environments. As we already have the aerial
photography of high quality we can begin this work immediately and use
of university resources at Peradeniya and Colombo is advised to begin this
work. This survey will indicate the types of local mineral and vegetal
resources and their capacities. For example after this survey it is possible
to know where is clay and sand required for pottery and construction
respectively. Pottery is going to be a highly marketable product in future
in the local and international markets and the demand for sand is going to
increase by about 10 fold in the next 20 to 30 years.

The village based cultivation systems are also under pressure from rapidly
rising population and villages are expanding into higher slopes or wet
lands as there location forces. This results in the erosion of hillsides and
burial of the wetland both which will lower the water availability of the
surrounding area and limit the quantity of good quality drinking water.

The village in the ancient civilisation was a well-planned unit of

operation, which had only a very limited effect on water and vegetal
resources. This arose from the location and organisation of the village.
Location of the village was ideal for living and was in a safe are out of the
way of the spillway of the tank and the tank bund. It was located away
form the main forested area and the pressure from the settlement was
limited on the forest. The modern village is expanding along the roads in a
linear form and this puts a high pressure on the roadside lands either wet
or dry. In addition private ownership of land has forced construction in
any place you like not listening to risk factor. Today about 12 percent of
the total population and about 70 percent of the poor live in lands with
high risk from flood, landslide and disease.
A new village therefore is required to be established with a great concern
to our environmental factors. We should aim at nuclear type of villages in
the future with all the infrastructure facilities supplied in a well-planned
manner. The resettlement and new village establishment should take into
consideration of the effect of allowing villages to spread, as they like.

The current emphasis on village based economy by the government is a

timely activity, but the stability of a village is not only achieved by
cultivation and related economic activity, the water and soil resources of
the village also have to be taken care of well under a long term plan if the
prosperity of the village is to be maintained. Further, the village depend
heavily on its craftsmanship, where many types of craftsmen practise their
craft with dignity and faith. Crafts are a product of high demand in the
international market and with the expected development in air freight
there is a lucrative market for crafts in the latter part of the 20 th century.
Therefore it is timely to look towards a new village based on its location,
size, capabilities and development in the next 20 to 30 years. In the
process of development the highly trained university staff and the students
with the newest knowledge should be utilised well.

Climatic change and its effect on Sri Lanka (Seneviratne and Karunaratne,
2003)

Present global climate is defined here as the climate of the 53

decade 1980-2000. This period witnessed the highest level of
development in climatology, since its origin in the early part of 19th
century. The development of digital recorders and use of weather satellites
to view the earth globally has enabled climatologists to understand the
global picture better than ever before. In summary global climate and
environment was in a time of change in the decade of 1990 to 2000 and
the changes in climatic phenomena identified in the early 1980s were
confirmed by research conducted in this period. The following global
components of climate were identified in detail during this period.

1. Greenhouse effect
2. Ozone depletion
3. El Nino and La Nina
4. Change in ocean circulation

Greenhouse effect is the primary mover of the change in earth‟s climate.

Ozone depletion and El Nino and La Nina are primarily a result of global
warming which leads to the formation of greenhouse effect. Change in
ocean circulation is partially geological but at present it is accelerated by
greenhouse effect.

Sri Lanka

Climatology is a poorly developed science in Sri Lanka as there is no

national policy on the study of climatic change, drought, flood and storm
rainfall damage control. It is believed by many that the lukewarm attitude
of policy makers towards climatic change arises from lack of
understanding of the dynamics of nature and the value of integrated
studies on environment. This has resulted in the annual loss of lives and
property, which affect the gradual development of local and regional
communities and sometimes the national plans for economic development
through massive damage to environment as in case of 2003 floods.

Firstly, research conducted on climate and its regional variation,

seasonality and agro-climatic significance is rare due to non-availability
of equipment and trained personnel. The present group of scientists
concentrates their efforts either on impact studies and human interface
rather than the basic nature of change and predictability. This is a result of
lack of experienced climatologists in the field and the domination of
meteorology and climatology by pure science oriented personnel, who
have a limited knowledge in spatio-temporality of climate change.

Universities in Sri Lanka are not conducting technical research due to

absence of field climatologists, though there are many that study impact
and weather phenomena. Secondly, increase of damage due to climate
events occurs due to very low literacy on spatio-temporality of climate in
the general population and policy makers.

This low literacy emanates from the lack of a proper place for climatic
events of local environment in GCE (OL) and GCE (AL) levels of
education. Thirdly the database is poor due to lack of data
54
from many sensitive locations in the scenario of climatic
change in Sri Lanka, specially intermediate and dry zones.

Agriculture, power supply and communications suffer regularly due to

lack of knowledge on local events and low literacy on climate. The
occurrence of annual and seasonal droughts cannot be predicted due to
lack of studies on climatic change in Sri Lanka and its immediate
surroundings.

The seasonal droughts account for about 60 to 70 per cent of the crop
failures and about two to three suicides among farmers annually. The
suicides occur among the farmers who have become heavily indebted and
unable to settle their loans due to repeated loss of crops due to seasonal
drought.

The impact of this type of crop failure are mostly not recorded in regular
surveys in detail and downplayed by the media, which affect about a
200,000 farmer families every year. The primary reason for this type of
failure is poor prediction of water availability, which depends on seasonal
rainfall.

Police and judicial records indicate struggles for water due to seasonal
drought result in civil and criminal disturbances in most of the
resettlement projects in Sri Lanka, which sometimes involve the local
political authority. Recently, there was a case of a politico and a group of
his supporters breaking locks on weirs in Kala Oya irrigation system.

These are the beginnings of new group of conflicts related to water in Sri
Lanka. One of the reasons for the present crisis in hydropower generation
in Sri Lanka is non-adherence to the long-term predictions on climatic
change and seasonal variation of rainfall as proposed by the global
climatic database from 1970 to 1990. Today all the hydro power plants in
Sri Lanka work under-capacity for more than nine months of the year and
the industry is yet to find a solution to power crisis.

Power lines and telephone lines suffer heavily from their inability to
withstand pressure exerted by moderate thunderstorm winds as these are
designed without much consideration to average wind speeds. It is
common to hear from the authorities that the reason for the power failure
or telephone failure is either the equipment is under floods or the line is
damaged by falling poles or trees. Therefore the present relationship
between climate and man in Sri Lanka is a story of helplessness and
misery.

Lessons to learn

A recent visit to Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Finland and Norway

enabled one of the authors observe the attempts made by these countries
to find solutions to increased intensity of snow fall and rain storms one
author had the opportunity of joining two field visits in Norway to
observe the solutions used by climatologists and hydrologists55
in the increase of infiltration and percolation in some problem
catchments. In Norway there is a long-term decline in the mean annual
snowfall, which provides most of the water needs for the generation
hydro-electricity.

The critical areas of study are based on a well organized and managed
rural conservation built upon small administrative areas known as
communes (equal to District Councils in Sri Lanka). The individual unit
of operation was lowered to the level of household, which was
systematically controlled and helped to maintain the best possible level of
run off control.

The control of the smallest to large streams by forestation or maintaining

a thick grass and herb cover on the steep slopes are supported by very
strict laws. The law-breakers are subjected to heavy fines and sometimes
prison sentences. This was made possible by the division of ownership of
forests and grassland on a jointly owned basis by the State and an
individual.

Almost all the farmland in Norway is privately owned, but the forests or
grassland are of the perimeter farmland can be used by the seasonal
traveler to these areas, provided that they obey the laws, with regard to
berry picking, tourism and hiking. One author went on a berry picking
tour with his friend and observed how the people come and pick berries,
without damaging the environment.

The forests are well maintained and used on the principle of forest
harvesting, which provides a continuous growth and an economic value.
The urban areas were well managed with a network of storm drains,
which enabled the storm rainfall to be gradually sent back to the rivers,
streams or fjords.

This has resulted in the prevention of the destruction of springs and small
streams in the rural areas and the damage to power distribution and
telephone lines. On the basis of this knowledge, it is timely to say that Sri
Lanka belongs to a group of countries where very little attention is paid to
increase infiltration and regularized disposal of storm water in an era of
increased intensity of storms and changing climate.

The above mentioned developed countries have carried out the

conservation measures in parallel to the maximum utilization of land. In
these countries all the land is well utilized within a framework of
legislation and scientific use of land. Though there are problems of land
use in these areas, they are reduced to minimum through the use of
scientific knowledge. Water resources exist on the principles of hydrology
and dynamics.

Therefore to obtain the maximum utilization capacity the humans should

be knowledgeable and efficient.

Who suffers? 56
The IPCC has indicated an average of 1.7 degree Centigrade increase in
temperature by 2070 for the area in and around Sri Lanka. Concurrently, it
predicts a maximum of five percent reduction of the wet season rainfall,
while there will be no change in the dry season rainfall. The rising sea
level will make the lowest 3 to 5 kilometers of the lower reaches of all the
rivers saline.

It is clear that the poor is the most vulnerable group to climatic change as
their capacity to cope with sudden events resulting from climatic change
is less than the other groups with better financial capacity.

It is clear that about 92 percent of the householders who suffer a property

damage of 70 per cent and above in the last major floods and slides in Sri
Lanka are in the low income group. This is because higher income groups
are able to live in safe locations, which are more expensive and situated
on stable geological foundations.

This is a reality in all the developing countries where the poor is left with
the poorest quality and highest hazard prone land as feudal and elitist
landlords still hold power of land ownership and control. Data on fatalities
from annual floods and landslides in Sri Lanka reveals that 94 per cent of
the fatalities occur in the poorest group of people and they live under
continuous threat of natural disasters.

In a survey of 12 districts in Sri Lanka conducted between 1996 and 2002,

84 per cent of the low income groups identified climate related events as
damaging to their livelihood and 32 per cent were seriously affected with
damages leading to heavy loss of income.

In addition to physical damage there is a rising health risk associated with

climatic change. Climatic change and health is a well researched topic of
study in the developed world as they have accepted the concept of change
and probable increase in new and existing health risks.

There are three major health risks associated with climatic change in Sri
Lanka. Firstly, the increasing dryness in all parts of the country will
increase the risk of mosquito borne diseases and water related diseases.
Secondly, increased intensity of rainfall associated with climatic change
affect the health of people in poor housing (all houses without a proper
ceiling - about 90 per cent of all housing in Sri Lanka are in this category)
through fine droplet spray, which the researchers believe to be one of the
major causes of the increase in respiratory diseases.

Thirdly, the increase of high flood levels, severe droughts, landslides and
heavy winds will increase the instantaneous health risk all over the
country. At the moment there is no data bank on this aspect, though
related data is available in many public sector documents.

In addition to physical damage there is a rising health risk associated with

climatic change. Climatic change and health is a well 57
researched topic of study in the developed world as they have
accepted the concept of change and probable increase in new and existing
health risks. There are three major health risks associated with climatic
change in Sri Lanka.

Firstly, the increasing dryness in all parts of the country will increase the
risk of mosquito borne disease and water related diseases.

Secondly, increased intensity of rainfall associated with climatic change

affect the health of people in poor housing (all houses without a proper
ceiling - about 90 per cent of all housing in Sri Lanka are in this category)
through fine droplet spray, which the researchers believe to be one of the
major causes of the increase in respiratory diseases.

Thirdly, the increase of high flood levels, severe droughts, landslides and
heavy winds will increase the instantaneous health risks all over the
country.

At the moment there is no data bank on this aspect, though related data is
available in many public sector documents.

CSP 2
Floods and landslides : the emerging scenario (Seneviratne and
Karunaratne, 2003)

A detailed review of the relevance of climatic change shows that the wet
areas of Sri Lanka will face an increasing threat of floods and slides in the
period ahead of 1990 to the future. More than 500 academic and technical
publications bear witness to this scenario. The best available most recent
academic and technical data are provided by the WMO/UNEP Report
(1998) on the regional impacts of climatic change, which clearly indicates
an increase of total and intensity of rainfall in the South Asian region.

In 1975, 1998 and 2002 one of the authors had warned that the frequency
of flooding would increase in Sri Lanka, associated with climatic change
and development. In 1998 in an article which appeared in Dinamina about
an earthquake near Kandy, one of the authors called for the establishment
of scientific organisations to study and predict natural hazards, as most of
the developing countries have done in the past two decades.

Most of the damage which occurred in the present flood situation could
have been avoided, if the people who are responsible for safety of human
resources of Sri Lanka watched radar weather maps and listened to
predictions regularly for about four days before the arrival of the
depression.

Information of the WMO reveals that the depression clouds can get
stagnated when they are caught between two mountain ranges and that is
what exactly happened in this situation. Some strands of the depression
clouds were caught in between.
58
Samanala and Gongala-Hiniduma ranges in Denawaka valley: They kept
on creating cloud streets and line squalls, which brought heavy continuous
rainfall. One of the authors has published an article in 2000 (Daily News)
on new detailed evidences of rain formation and line squalls in Sri Lanka.

In addition there are more than 300 research papers published between
1900 and 2002 on changing climate and dangers of poor environmental
planning in Sri Lanka, which were also disregarded by the policy makers.

The destruction caused to lives and property due to the inability of the
policy makers to grasp the value of scientific data and technical data is
indicated well from the present disaster. The use of floodable land and
geologically unstable slopes for housing, neglect of heavy sedimentation
of streams and rivers and forgetting that nature has its rhythm were the
three major errors committed by the policy makers.

Grassroots also have to be blamed for their ignorance of nature and poor
environment literacy. However, none of the developed countries in the
world has not achieved the present status of balance of environment
without strict environmental regulation and law. One of the authors of this
paper lived at Ratnapura in the 1960s and 1970s and is a regular visitor in
the study of sedimentation and flood hazard and has predicted many times
in his writings on the possible dangers. The lowlands in and around
Ratnapura are built by Kalu Ganga to store its floodwater in the time of its
major flood (This applies to Gin Ganga and Nilwala Ganga also).

The mean annual rainfall of Ratnapura district is 3,000 millimeters. Kalu

Ganga is a river in which the flood can be predicted easily, if there is a
watch of rain in the Samanala range and Western slopes of Gongala
ranges (Kalawana and Kukulegama areas). These three rivers have the
steepest gradients for any river in Sri Lanka in their upper reaches, which
leads to rapid flow of rainwater from the highland to the lowland. There
are only limited virgin forests in the catchment areas of Gin Ganga,
Nilwala Ganga and Kalu Ganga.

These facts were forgotten in the modern development process, which

became very rapid in the 1980s and 1990s. Information on floodable land
was forgotten or disregarded by the policy makers and users, as Sri Lanka
experienced a dry phase in its climate in the 1980s and 1990s.

One of the authors was alarmed on a visit to his old village area at
Ratnapura in 1998 after a lapse of about 10 years, when he witnessed that
the floodable area was thickly covered with housing of all types.

This was a disaster in the making as Kalu Ganga will always come back
to its pre-prepared flood plain during its high flows. The frequency of this
return of Kalu Ganga is fairly regular and repeats around 25, 50 and 100-
year floods.

Almost all the landslides originate from heavy saturation of 59

slope material. However, human activities like over loading
of a slope with a thin weathered regolith or unconsolidated soil cover can
also initiate landslides under heavy rainfall conditions. Both these have
contributed to landslides in this disaster. Quarrying may have contributed,
but if only the regolith was too thin in which case the planning and
environmental authorities should have recommended that the area is
unsuitable for building or any other human activity.

There is news about slow pace of draining of floodwater and this is due to
sedimentation of micro waterways and sub streams, which prevent
outward flow in the flood plain. Ratnapura has no drainage system, which
can cope with its own daily drainage, not to talk of flood drainage. This
applies to all our towns and cities, where smell reign.

The poor drainage or sedimented waterways is again a result of poor

policy application and maintenance of environmental law.

One of the authors read a paper on dangers of sedimentation of waterways

recently at a seminar funded by a donor organization and its local area
organizers, early this year, pointing out the real dangers of sedimentation
of waterways with local monitored examples.

One of the more informed Ministers in the present government was

interested in a proposal submitted by the same author about a year ago,
but it is yet to materialise into action. As we know, the Pavithra Ganga
programme has faced many obstacles due to disregard of scientific
information.

Only a long-term (minimum of 50 years) programme will minimize the

effect of major flooding and landslides. As the wet areas of Sri Lanka are
going to be wetter and dry areas are going to be drier and annual average
damage from these hazards may be about a billion rupees.

This may rise if we are going to experience a major flood every 25 years.
A fair estimate of 50 billion rupees damage has occurred in the present
flood. Another 5 to 10 billion loss of income is yet to come from loss of
farm crops and tree crops. The number of affected families by this flood is
162,800 (Ministry of Social Welfare, 2003). It is time now that the policy
makers listen to scientific advice on settlement planning, location and
housing. An attempt to conduct this type of programme was disregarded
by the Government and foreign loan and aid agencies many a time.

One of the authors who has wide experience in natural hazard studies has
warned of this type of occurrence first in 1977 in a study of upper
Mahaweli, funded by UNDP and Ministry of Plan Implementation and as
recent as 2002 March has submitted a long-term work programme to the
Government of Sri Lanka, SIDA and Sarvodaya and waiting for a
response.

As Hancock, Nyerere and Bala Usman have indicated in their writings,

the polity of natural hazard is that the relief is cheaper and 60
profitable for international agencies than the establishment of
a long-term programme. The relief creates an avenue for the policy
makers and administrators to get rich continuously as Bala Usman has
observed in relation to corruption discovered in the relief programmes of
1983 drought in Africa, which involved some United Nations staff and
Multinational companies.

However, developed countries from where these organizations originate

have used draconian measures to organize the natural and settled
environment through application of laws and regulations and invested
heavily on canalization of rivers, control of household area erosion and
sedimentation and use of concrete, bitumen and other chemical layers etc
to control flooding and landslides.

Visits to their countries reveal that dams and weirs of various sizes and
designs and even laying of stones on river beds and banks have been
employed without much concern of the natural value of the area, but
making the riverside safe. They hide their large dams in the mountainous
areas fairly inaccessible to the visitor or cover it with a scenic
arrangement through reforestation. Research into culture and financial
management is important only if the living environment is free of its most
damaging natural disasters.

Though we cannot stop them we have the scientific knowledge to control

them and bring the impact to a level, which will not affect the economy of
a region or a country. As one of the authors has already proposed since
1990s, a household based environmental conservation programme must be
initiated immediately to avoid more disasters of this nature. The same
author wishes to inform the policy makers and public that the catchments
of Maha Oya and Deduru Oya are also seriously eroded in the upper
reaches and sedimented in the lower reaches.

A climatic occurrence similar to that which happened in the Denawaka

Valley moving across this catchment may cause a similar disaster. The
long-term data indicate the south-west monsoon is slowly shifting its path
in a North-North-West direction and this may bring a cloud mass and
block it between the Matale-Ambokka ranges and the lower ranges of
North-western plains resulting in a massive rain storm. This will create a
condition conducive to a major flood.

Recent research indicates that rainfall intensities in the intermediate zone

are increasing rapidly and North-easterlies are associated with heavy rain
in this region.

A recent 'Discovery' programme on the future has indicated a major

destruction of human civilization may arise from environmental disasters
than from a nuclear war. Floods, tornadoes, cyclones and droughts in the
range of 2 to 3 trillion US dollars have proved this correct by the total
damage to Europe and USA in the last decade. Are we really heading for
an environmental disaster of a mega proportion was the final question of
that programme.
61
We in Sri Lanka have to suffer heavy economic damage amounting to
about 30 billion rupees to bring back the areas to operational level and
according to popular news, it may take about one third of our budgetary
allocations this year to fully rehabilitate the damage over a period of five
years.

Will we be able to sustain this programme in case of continuing natural

disasters? The answer is no. We have to follow the scientific evidences
and be ready for the future.

All the developed countries have mega plans to face the impending
natural disasters. They have food, medical supplies and service stocks in
hand with disaster prediction, control and management organizations.

Please begin a long-term restructuring of environment in the hazardous

zones.

A proposal for a environment management plan for present linear

settlement system (H.M.M.B. and Siddhisena, K.A.P., Control of
Sedimentation of waterways through a household based programme,
Relating environment to Regional Development, Programme and
Abstracts, USJ-Sida/SAREC Research Cooperation Project and Ministry
of Environment and Natural Resources Joint International Conference , 15
to 16th September, 2002, Trans Asia, Colombo)

The primary objective of this paper is to present the available information

on the value of household empowerment in the regional development,
with special reference to the problem of sedimentation and its effect on
regional and national development of Sri Lanka. The secondary objective
is to present the experiences gained in this area of research and forms a
strategy in the control of sedimentation, at the household level. The
alternative development as presented succinctly by Friedmann (1992),
indicates the importance of household in the modern development
process.

The household and the farmland are identified as the major sediment
supplier to the sedimentation system. Home gardens of Sri Lanka are
poorly organized to prevent the flow of sediments to the local network of
drains. In turn the authorities poorly maintain the local network of drains
responsible for the prevention of soil erosion.

The rapid increase in the population of the farming areas of Sri Lanka has
increased the housing density of these two villages by an average of 30 to
40 percent in the last decade, but the removal of excess water produced by
pavementation has not been considered important.
The paper will attempt to forward a long term program, which is aimed at
reducing the maintenance cost of regional authorities on roads, minor
irrigation works and increase the environment value through improved
water situation which is hoped to be achieved through household based
sedimentation control program. 62
The increased severity of climatic events has become a norm at present
and a new vision into disaster control has to be established. Can Figure
2.4 provide a better answer?

The people oriented disaster management system or PODS is expected to

1. Gather information at local level and disseminate them through a

community based graduate personnel trained in environmental
management. Why environmental management? One of the
major failures in disaster control originates from lack of
understanding of the holistic view on disaster in the existing
system of disaster management in the developing countries.
Holistic view is the only way to understand better the present
conflict between man and environment, where natural and
societal hazards occur in a heavily built-up environment.
Environment is no more a physical unit as it is over-utilised to
provide food, shelter and clothing to rapidly increasing
population. Therefore the societal organization of the
environment has become a major controlling variable in disaster
management. This holistic view is present only in modern
environmental management where societal factor is taken into
consideration as a resource both with strengths and threats. In
developing country scenario there are more societal threats than
strengths in the system of disaster management due to problems
related to socio-political corruption.
Community based graduate personnel should be allowed to
operate as a strength to the operational system if PODS is to be a
success. (Figure 3.4 next page)

For example these personnel will be attached to the District

Secretary‟s office within the present administrative system of Sri
Lanka. Information gathering on individual settlement units
within the population unit selected can be conducted with the aid
of village officer (Gram Niladhari). However, the present
administrative and political authority may have some undue
restriction on the establishment system, which has to be removed
through new legislation. The collection of disaster risk
information has to be valued very high as economic losses
incurred by various types of disasters in Sri Lanka are on the
increase. As this book is written with the concept of disaster
extended to include an event resulting also from negligence due
to failure to establish democratic institutions, socio-political
corruption and non-adherence to scientific ways of development,
any undue pressures of from the existing system of governance
can become a problem to this new disaster management system.
Therefore, initial step in the establishment of this system should
call for better legal powers to disaster management. Therefore all
the steps forwarded in this book on the PODS system are based
on the concept that it will be properly supported.

63
64
65
66
Figure 3.2 in next page indicate the composition of new disaster
management

67
People Oriented Disaster Management System - PODS

Emergency
Director
(Military)
People

Security

Local director – a Graduate in Non-government

Environmental Management for a Agencies
Academic population of 2000 Any other
Agencies

Government Agencies

68
69
The unit of operation under the community based graduate who is the local director
is a population unit of 2000 people or as restricted by any environmental factor and
specialty required. Under normal situations this unit will collect scientific and other
types of information from government and academic agencies on the probable
occurrence of disasters in the unit and the surrounding units which can affect the
unit. The unit can also collect information from NGO‟s and any other organizations
involved in disaster management.

In case of a disaster the responsibility of this unit may be transferred to the

National Disaster management Military Command which will be decided by the
advice of the unit by the President.

Government Agency

This unit provides all material and financial resources required for the operation of
the unit. The financial support will also come from a unit insurance system
operated by the local directorate, which is funded by a monthly, seasonal or annual
levy from the people living in the unit, who will use the insurance system in the
process of rehabilitation after disaster. However, disaster may be a very rare event
in some units which can utilize their insurance funds for disaster prevention and
environmental planning.

Academic Agency
Academic agency is to provide a risk analysis of the unit on a regular basis with
reference to its natural and societal environment. This is primarily a task of the
university system which environmental science and management students will be
the field information collectors.

70
Chapter 4

Disaster management in Sri Lanka

Disaster management in Sri Lanka will be discussed in this chapter

within the context of understanding of environmental change in
developing countries, where there is a difficulty in the application
of holistic concept of disaster management. However, the present
situation of Sri Lanka will be evaluated within the strict regime of
scientific approach available to the researcher.

The present system of disaster management in Sri Lanka is

primarily a disaster response system, where the management
system begins to operate at the onset of disaster. However, there
are a few organizations which collect data and issue warnings on
impending disasters, but lack of application of scientific method on
disaster management and coordination between these organizations
prevents reducing the impact of disaster.

Research on scientific method

Developing countries of the world suffer continuously from non-

utilization of scientific method in development, which makes them
highly incapable of handling disasters. Development scientists
have presented many reasons for this weakness and lack of
democratic institutions has been noted as the main contributory
factor. Though there are democratically elected governments in
most of the developing nations these institutions are noted for many
corrupt practices which affect scientific management of resources.
The scientific method of disaster management has to be operated
on many steps as presented below.

Management

Management provides the best possible way of reducing the loss of

life and property from a disaster. However, most of the
management practises recommended by the disaster manager will
not be applicable if the required infrastructure is not provided,
education programmes are not conducted and societal participation
is not activated.

71
Until such time PODS is operational communities can collectively
work for a warning system in their localities. The best available
organization is the village based Funeral Help Societies, which are
a highly successful system in collection and utilization of local
resources. Most of these societies are operated by people with
dedication to work and honesty, which helps the needy at a serious
time of crisis. However the identification, prevention and control
has to be conducted with the help of experts who can be selected
from the nearby universities and technical colleges. This
connection between experts and locality is now linked to a
government institutional system, which has only a very limited
presence in the local area due to their poor operation management
system. For example climatic disasters cannot be predicted
properly as there is no proper coverage of weather stations at
district level and lack of funding for collection of data. Further, the
lukewarm attitude of the governing authorities towards disaster
control has also reduced support for these services.

72
The basic steps in disaster management are given in Table 4/1 and 4/2 in summary form.

Table 4.1 Basic steps in disaster management -* risk level – see Appendix

Management step Concurrent activity

Identify the hazard/s Use of scientific method to identify the disaster/ study the nature, recurrence/ risk level */
Research and Long term scientific data collection and monitoring/ listening to local sources/ listening to
monitoring traditional belief systems should not be forgotten/
Taking control and if Control –
possible preventive There are some control measures, which can be taken to minimise the risk of any type of
measures (remember no disaster. Most of the damages resulting from landslides, flood and accelerated erosion can
disaster can be fully be controlled through proper settlement and infrastructure planning. This will reduce the
controlled, but proper risk to less than 10 percent (Eg. All the developed countries have done this through
management techniques education supported by strict adherence to environmental law)
can be used to minimise Accelerated erosion, deforestation, desertification, flood and landslides can be controlled
loss of life and property) with – proper land management and settlement planning
Corruption, gluttony and sadism can be controlled by honest administration
Conflict, riot and war can be controlled by developing proper socio-political
understanding
Prevention – Most of the damages resulting from landslides, flood and accelerated
erosion can be prevented through proper settlement and infrastructure planning. This will
reduce the risk to less than 10 percent (Eg. All the developed countries have done this
through education supported by strict adherence to environmental law)
73
 Table 4.2 Basic steps in disaster management
Management step Concurrent activity
Preparation Preparation
Prepare the society to listen to warning system – radio/TV/ and local organisation mobile
telephone link or radio link/ rehearse evacuation plan/ select local immediate response team. In
here local social/ medical, engineering/ security resources must be used

Prepare the emergency supplies in the nearest possible place to the disaster – dry rations, clean
water, clothing, baby food, essential medicine and portable equipment required for search and
rescue ( in bunkers/ high ground shelters)
Security forces for immediate response
Search, rescue and medical aid
Relief supply system
Temporary shelters
Temporary communications
Armed forces on alert
Facing the disaster See below3
Rehabilitation (from Education, organisational frame work (specially the local societal organisations), financial
regional and national resources, evacuation, shelter
funding)
Recovery (from regional Education, organisational frame work (specially the local societal organisations), financial
and national funding) resources, evacuation, shelter
Stabilisation and (from Education, organisational frame work (specially the local societal organisations), financial
regional and national resources, evacuation, shelter
funding) rebuilding
74
Identification of disaster situation: Science and Signs

Scientific evaluation of possible disaster situations are

conducted using the available scientific knowledge. The type
and amount of scientific knowledge required for a disaster is
decided on the type and dynamics of a disaster. Collection and
analysis of disaster data has to be conducted by experts in the
respective field of science. Most of these facilities are
available in the developed countries, but in the developing
world this system is yet to be fully established (Table 4.1 and
4.2).

Each type of hazard is associated with its own set of signs,

which have been noted by the elders and kept in the
community through storage in folklore or myth. Some of these
signs have been associated to following systems which are not
truly scientific, but has been accepted by post modernity
thinking as valuable and sometimes valid.

Dreams – there is a belief that dreams indicate danger

Sense – there is a belief that telepathy and other unexplained
super naturals signal danger
Behaviour of other living beings – have to be taken seriously
Behaviour of underground water, rock strata and the surface is
important
Astrological predictions are useful
Personal predictions may be valid
Warnings given by elders have value

There is a continuous struggle between science and belief in

the modern world in relation to disasters. Our primary
investigation is based on scientific concepts, but in the study
of disaster and facing disaster in a poor country like Sri Lanka
value of the belief system cannot be forgotten. It is because
the information and recovery systems associated with disaster
are extremely weak due to non-adherence to scientific method.

Therefore this book is not only written as a text book for my

students, but also as an information system to all who wanted
to believe that traditional knowledge is valid at all times and
can be added to existing scientific knowledge to save lives and
property in disaster.

75
Table 4.3 Flood – identification of causative environment

Level Long term contributory Short term contributory factors

factors
Flood Unplanned forest
clearance
Unplanned settlement
Unplanned environment High intensity rainfall
Poor local drainage
Weir collapse
Landslide
Water mains burst
Water tanker accident
Reservoir collapse

76
Flood (Tables 4.3, 4.4 and 4.5)

Long term contributory factors – Rivers are the transporters of

excess water which cannot be stored in soil and rock at the
surface of the earth. Depending on the rainfall regime of its
basin rivers have a set system of flows, identified by
hydrologists as low, average and high. High flow is further
divided into bank full, flood and disastrous flood. In the warm
regions of the world river basin is used heavily for the
establishment of settlements and farm land.

Rapid rise in population in the last 20 years have led to living

on river banks and lowlands around river. In the same period
changes in global and regional climate has increased rainfall
intensity resulting in short duration heavy rainfall. These two
factors have increased the disasters related to flood all over the
world, but lack of proper environmental planning and proper
insurance systems has increased the risk of flood in
developing countries than in the developed countries.

The risk of flood in developing countries is increased mainly

due to lack of proper environmental planning. Within this
status unplanned forest clearance is the major contributory
factor as it guides excess water rapidly to the river channel as
lowering of forest cover prevents proper storage in soil and
rock. However, forests are an essential part of human life and
it is extremely difficult to protect forests without a long term
environmental plan as it is conducted in the developed world.
Concepts of protection, conservation and harvesting are
utilised in unison to protect forests in developed countries.
Therefore the developing countries have to follow the success
of developed countries utilising their scientific and regulatory
measures.

77
Table 4.4 Flood - Understanding long-term contributory factors

Long term Remedy Situation in Sri Lanka

contributory
factors
Unplanned forest National environmental plan with proper scientific and Poor and destructive due lack of
clearance regulatory measures. Forest harvesting with application in regulatory measures.
preservation of Strict Natural Reserves.
Unplanned Risk analysis used in the selection of area for Poor and destructive due lack of
settlement settlement construction. Use legislation to establish application in regulatory measures.
proper drainage.
Unplanned Risk analysis used in the selection of area for Poor and destructive due lack of
environment settlement construction. Use legislation to establish application in regulatory measures.
proper drainage.

78
Table 4.5 Flood - Understanding short-term contributory factors

Short-term Remedy
contributory factor
High intensity Listen to advice of scientists engaged in research on climatic change, collect
rainfall data on regional and local rainfall in detail.
Poor local Plan drainage to suit changing climate and construction, provide emergency
drainage drainage system in all the settlements, keep all the drains and sewers in
working order, use legislation to establish proper drainage.
Landslide Early warning systems for landslides, removal of rock debris from slopes and
stream beds, cleaning stream beds and strengthening of stream banks, proper
road designs. use legislation to establish proper drainage.
Weir collapse Monitor weirs correctly, use legislation to establish proper drainage.
Water mains burst Monitor water mains correctly, use legislation to establish proper drainage.
Water tanker Monitor mechanics correctly, use legislation to establish proper drainage.
accident
Reservoir collapse Monitor reservoir system correctly, use legislation to establish proper
drainage.

79
Present status of damage from various types of floods in Sri
Lanka is extremely high due to not understanding the long-
term and short-term contributory factors. The special
contributory factor for the increase in disasters related to
flooding results from nonchalant attitude towards scientific
knowledge and legislation. Further, very poor environment
literacy among the populace, non-utilisation of graduates
trained with proper field experiences produced by local
universities and domination of public disaster management by
non-scientists has led to continuing increase in disasters
related to floods.

Landslides (Tables 4.6, 4.7 and 4.8)

Landslide is the common name given too many types of slope

failures which is an essential part of nature in the construction
of slopes. Therefore they occur all the time and in recent years
with an increasing intensity as a result of climatic change and
settlement and road design failures.

Depending on the rainfall regime landslides have a set system

of flows, identified by geologists and geomorphologists as
seasonal and local. Seasonal flow is associated with heavy
rainfall in the areas of steep slopes... In the warm regions of
the world mountain slopes are used without proper
stabilisation for the establishment of settlements and farm
land.

Rapid rise in population in the last 20 years have led to living

on unstable slopes and artificially constructed slopes. In the
same period changes in global and regional climate has
increased rainfall intensity resulting in short duration heavy
rainfall. These two factors have increased the disasters related
to landslides all over the world, but lack of proper
environmental planning and proper insurance systems has
increased the risk of landslides in developing countries than in
the developed countries.

The risk of landslide in developing countries is increased

mainly due to lack of proper environmental planning. Within
this status unplanned forest clearance is the major contributory
factor as it guides excess water rapidly to the river channel and

80
undercut slopes rapidly and leads to rapid bank and rock
collapse. However, forests are an essential part of human life
and it is extremely difficult to protect forests without a long
term environmental plan as it is conducted in the developed
world. Concepts of protection, conservation and harvesting are
utilised in unison to protect forests in developed countries.
Therefore the developing countries have to follow the success
of developed countries utilising their scientific and regulatory
measures.

Table 4.6 Landslide - identification of causative

environment
Level Long term Short term contributory
contributory factors factors
Landslide Unplanned forest
clearance
Unplanned
settlement
Unplanned Poor knowledge of public
environment sector institutions on
slope stability
High intensity rainfall
Poor local drainage
Use of unstable slopes
Blocked stream beds
Undercutting of river
banks
Poor road designs
Disregard for scientific
principles in construction
on slopes

81
Table 4.7 Landslides- Understanding long-term contributory factors-

Long term Remedy Situation in Sri Lanka

contributory
factors
Unplanned forest National environmental plan with proper scientific and Poor and destructive due lack of
clearance regulatory measures. Forest harvesting with application in regulatory measures.
preservation of Strict Natural Reserves.
Unplanned Risk analysis used in the selection of area for Poor and destructive due lack of
settlement settlement construction. Use legislation to establish application in regulatory measures.
proper drainage.
Unplanned Risk analysis used in the selection of area for Poor and destructive due lack of
environment settlement construction. Use legislation to establish application in regulatory measures.
proper drainage.

82
Table 4.8 Landslides- Understanding short-term contributory factors

Short-term Remedy
contributory factor
High intensity Listen to advice of scientists engaged in research on climatic change, collect data on
rainfall regional and local rainfall in detail.
Poor local drainage Plan drainage to suit changing climate and construction, provide emergency drainage
system in all the settlements, keep all the drains and sewers in working order, use
legislation to establish proper drainage.
Use of unstable Listen to advice of scientists engaged in research on local geology climatic change,
slopes collect data on regional and local rainfall in detail.
Blocked stream Utilise modern systems of stream bed management, use legislation to establish
beds proper drainage
Undercutting of Utilise modern systems of stream channel management, use legislation to establish
river banks proper drainage
Poor road designs Utilise modern systems of road designs, use legislation to establish proper drainage
Disregard for Listen to advice of scientists engaged in research on local geology climatic change,
scientific principles collect data on regional and local rainfall in detail.
in construction on
slopes

83
Traffic accidents (Tables 4.9 and 4.10)

Traffic accidents are considered in this book as the primary

disaster in Sri Lanka, because damage from traffic accidents is
the second most damaging disaster in terms of lives lost and
material loss after war. As in all the other developing countries
traffic accidents, in Sri Lanka results primarily from
institutional corruption as traffic laws are not

Table 4.9 Traffic accidents and remedies

Action Percent Remedy

responsible for
fatal accidents
collected from
613 media reports
for one year
Speeding by big 41 Legal actions
commercial
vehicles

Illegal registration 19 Legal actions

of vehicles

Poor road designs, 14 Proper planning

without pedestrian
way and crossings
under or over road
in busy points
Poor driving 11 Legal actions
habits of small
vehicles (Three
Wheelers and
motor bicycles)
Use of pedestrian 08 Proper planning
area for
commercial
purposes

Pedestrian 07 Legal actions

nonchalance (not
following road
rules)

84
administered properly by all the responsible authorities. This
has led to a list of miseries, and remedies are proposed in
Table 4.9.

The surprising element in the analysis of traffic accidents in

Sri Lanka is that there is no relationship between observed
literacy and driver behaviour. Observed literacy of the
population in Sri Lanka is above 90 percent, but the density of
fatal accidents (ratio between number of vehicles: number of
fatal accidents) is one of the highest in the world. The
institutional corruption is given as a reason for this
incompatibility by many researchers during informal
interviews. Field survey revealed that most of the drivers
without any base of education level commit many trivial
mistakes in driving, like irregular parking, park and chat on
road, no proper understanding of the capacity of vehicle, joy
ride etc., which are the four most common factors forming
non-fatal accidents.

The only remedy for this serious threat to life and property has
to be controlled only through legal actions like it is conducted
in the developed world. Some developed countries have
begun to use video systems and unmarked police cars for the
control of traffic systems, which have drastically reduced the
density of fatal and serious traffic accidents in their countries.
However, the belief of many interviewed is that the traffic
situation is related to inherent corruption in the institutional
system in Sri Lanka, which has not shown any improvement in
the last 20 years.

85
Table 4.10 Survey conducted with information from many
traffic police officers

Activity Description Mean/charged

percent out of
total as
remembered for a
period of 6
months
Irregular parking Parking which 23
restricts free flow
of traffic
Park and chat on Park covering a 16
road side of road and
have a chat
Capacity In taking curves 12
knowledge and turn around or
overtaking not
using the full
capacity of the
vehicle
Joy ride Ride slowly even 08
when the road in
front of vehicle,
because having a
chat or using a cell
phone

Drought

Drought is considered the most damaging disaster in the

developing world as it silently kills many people whose deaths
are recorded under medical reasons and forgotten. Impact of
malaria, dysentery and AIDS are strongest in the areas where
drought has a permanent presence. In addition low income
drought affected communities have a high prevalence of
serious respiratory diseases (Seneviratne, 2003 and Discovery,
2006). Then it is believed widely suicide, eloping of girl
children and joining armed forces is also related to low
income generated by drought in the farming communities of
Sri Lanka (Seneviratne, 2003). Though there may be no direct

86
connection between drought and many sociological
phenomena in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, there is a visible
relationship between low income and many of the variables
given in the above discussion. The following case study is
presented for further explanations.

CPA 5
A case of disease and environment:: Migrants of Mahaweli
System C (Senviratne, 2003 b) – effect of climate and poor
planning

The area designated as System C is the largest single

resettlement programme in the Mahaweli Development
Project in Uva, Eastern and North Central Provinces of Sri
Lanka, where malaria is endemic and many other infectious
diseases prevail due to poor quality living environment and
drinking water. The home villages are a group of rural
settlements located in the wet zone of Sri Lanka, which is
comparatively healthy and malaria free. The detailed statistical
tests conducted on the two different environments confirmed
that the environment at Mahaweli System C is more hazardous
than the home villages (Seneviratne, 2003). Further this
presentation will reveal the effect of natural (climate) and man
made hazards (corruption) in a resettlement programme.
There were 20,674 farming families and another about 6000
non-farmer families living within the boundaries of System C
in 1998. The estimated total population was 126,758 in 1998
with a gross per capita income of Rupees 2134 and Rupees
102,000 gross income per household.
The System C area was settled in a sequence from south to
north between the Right Bank main canal and Mahaweli
River. It was initially divided into five zones, 9 blocks and
about 90 villages. The zone 1 was comprised of the old
irrigation schemes under Mapakada, Dambarawa and
Horabora tanks, which was incorporated into the System C.
The zone 2 was established in 1981, zone 3 in 1982, zone 4 in
1983 and zone 5 in 1988. An additional zone was established
in 1989 in the north eastern sector of the System C.

87
Table 4.11 Major problem as given by respondents
(multiple responses)

Major problem No Percent

Market facilities 90 100
High cost of inputs 90 100
Drinking water 68 72
Difficulty of getting investment finance 57 60
Emergency medical facilities 34 36
Employment for Children 23 24
Alcoholism 22 23
Our poverty 19 20
Poor soil condition of the high land plot 17 18
Respiratory diseases 16 17
Lack of provision to cultivate what we want 14 15
Neglect by the Mahaweli Development Authority 10 11
and the government
War 5 5

As shown in Table 4.11, scarcity of drinking water, poor soil

condition and disease are directly related to drought in this
region. An average of 33percent of the farmers has been
affected by these three hazardous situations continuously,
which indicate that the drought has reached the disaster status
in their lives.

The return migration and new arrivals

The discussion on coping indicates that many have made a

serious attempt to adjust and adapt to the new environment,
but some have not been able to cope with the situation for
many social and personal reasons. At the time of the survey,
the number of children schooling in the home village or
having left for employment recorded a value of 23 percent.
The lack of immunity to malaria and effect of chronic skin
disease has resulted in keeping two children and one wife
respectively in the home village with the siblings.

Seven percent of the farmers, who could not cope with the
difficulties, have begun a life in two places. They have built
a small mud house and stay at System C during the planting
and harvesting seasons and the family lives permanently in the
home village, where the wife and some of the children are
employed in various types of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs.

88
These families have built a small house on ancestral land, with
the use of income generated from the System C, as they have a
very cordial relationship with their siblings. Further the
household heads in this category practise a craft, which is
valued in the home village. This group was represented by a
mason, carpenter, gem miner, farm terrace builder,
construction site labourer, a rubber latex tapper and „an edura‟
(faith healer). The reason given for securing land at System C
was stated as to be given to a child or children. Between the
time of the beginning of the survey and the last visit in April
2000, three of these families have finally left after leasing their
land for an undisclosed number of years for sums varying
between 150, 000 rupees to 230, 000 rupees. Though, this
practise is illegal, the demand for land from the children of the
well established farmers at System C and the farmers
migrating from the war affected areas, have enabled this group
of farmers to receive a high financial gain.

The residents of System C believe that the high demand for

land in the new settlement originates from the consistency in
water supply for farming and a daily express bus linkage to all
the home villages. Therefore, many Mahaweli employees and
civil servants have begun to acquire land and become
permanent residents. The discussions conducted with the
officials of the area revealed that about 300 to 400 working
and retired minor officials and some senior officials have
obtained land for housing only or housing and farming
through lease, administrative and political support or on the
preferential allocation to former public servants. The
researcher managed to meet a senior official who has acquired
land through preferential allocation to former public servants
and built a house and a shop unit with a view of retiring at
System C.

Social cost of coping: a limited evaluation

The data gathered from all types of survey methodologies

indicate the social and personal problems arising from
resettlement at System C. The continuing survey and the trust
developed between the researcher and the respondent enabled

89
the researcher to collect a lot of private information on the
coping process. The one-month continuous stay during the
third visit to System C enabled the researcher to be part of
their life. I have managed to stay with them in their farms
and sleep in their houses and offer a ride in my vehicle. The
observations made during these encounters indicate that the
life style of the resettlement farmer has not changed much
from the researchers own experience in 1963, but I have a
notion that, the large scale settlement plan of the System C
area has definitely helped to construct a more complex society
than in most other resettlement units of the past.

It is clear that most of the continuing settlers have suffered

heavily from isolation, malaria and other infectious diseases
like typhoid and viral hepatitis, crop failure, but as they
collectively indicate, that they have stayed on, because they
were strong enough to bear the suffering. Table 4.12 records
the indebtedness of five farming families caused by ill health.
These farmers were not discouraged by the indebtedness and
are working with determination to succeed.

The human loss and social cost between the times of arrival to
the time of survey, as explained as a result of migration is
listed in Table 9.10. The data collected from home villages
are also presented with a view to compare the intensity of
social disturbance due to migration.
Table 4.12 The indebtedness of the respondents due to
disease as recorded during the survey
Disease Expenditure Source of funding
Asthma About 300 Part-time mechanic
monthly
Cancer A total of Part of the wetland was leased
(died 25,000
during the
last visit)
Cancer A total of Private bank mortgage on the
40,000 wetland. The children have willingly
stopped schooling and cultivating
extra land to repay the debt.
Cancer About 500 Sons help the family to pay medical
monthly bills and have delayed their marriage.
One of the sons joined the armed
forces to support the family
Disability About 400 Part-time labourer
monthly

90
Suicides recorded among the mature adults in both areas were
associated with excessive alcohol consumption, which led to
drinking of pesticide and accidental hanging while heavily
intoxicated with alcohol. One case of suicide in the home
villages of a 17-year-old female was related to a failed love
affair. Though there is no record of teenage suicide in the
sample population at System C, the researcher attended a
funeral of a 19-year-old female in a nearby village, during the
field programme. The case of drowning at System C occurred
due to burial in quick sand, while the respondent was wading
across River Mahaweli on a hunting expedition.
The higher level of health risks at System C is clearly
indicated in Table 9.10. Most of these sicknesses are
associated with malaria or asthma, which began to occur
among the respondents since their arrival in System C. The
impact of the higher social disturbance due to dislocation of
the life pattern is clearly shown in the data, with the categories
of eloping of girl children, unwanted marriage, divorce and
eloping of wife record only at System C. This type of social
problems led to the identification of resettled people as a
group of relocated people by Sørensen (1996), who
investigates some of the intricate social disturbances in the
resettlement programme in Sri Lanka. It is her belief that
these disturbances arise mainly due to isolation, lack of other
entertainment activities, unemployment of school leavers and
excessive alcohol use of the householder. A few older
respondents related acute asthma in children and increased
number of cancers, which they refer to as special sicknesses,
to the rising level of air and water pollution in the home
villages.
The majority of migrants utilise all the resources available to
them to cope with life at System C and establish a better
health situation in the family. Burdened with poverty of the
nation and themselves, they have a limited range of coping
capability to overcome most of the problems of the physical
and human environment like endemic malaria, construction of
good quality housing, improve conditions of farming and
social security. There are minor differences between
individual farming families and the overall scenario of coping
is similar to the strategies adopted by similar groups of people
elsewhere in the resettlement programme as observed by many
researchers.

91
The ability to cope therefore is decided upon by factors like
skills in auxiliary employment, income generated by their
children and loss of income through sickness and disease. It is
clear from the data presented those problems related to ill
health and disease has an important impact on the coping with
life at System C. Health has played a very important role as
indicated by the majority of the farmers in their attempt to
cope with life at System C.

The coping with health and disease was troublesome at the

beginning and difficult at present. However most of the
farmers have managed to overcome the serious threat of
disease principally aided by the reduction in the incidence of
malaria and increased availability of health service facilities
during the last 10 years. Though, the ability of the farming
families to cope with their health and other problems are
primarily influenced by the constraints formed by location and
the institutional indecision on the strategies of resettlement
management, most of them have managed to live a life of a
poor farmer.

References

Amerasinghe, F.P. and Indrajith, N.G. (1994) Post-irrgation

breeding patterns of surface water mosquitoes in the Mahaweli
Project, Sri Lanka, and comparison with preceding
development phases, Journal of Madical Entomology, 31, 4.
Baker, V.J. (1999), A Sinhala village in Sri Lanka, Coping
with uncertainty, Harcourt Brace and Co., Fortworth.
Department of Health, 1996, Annual Health Bulletin,
Colombo, Sri Lanka.
De Vroey, M. and Shanmugaratnam, N. (1984), Peasant
resettlement in Sri Lanka, Tri Star.
Farmer, B.H. (1957), Peasant Colonisation in Sri Lanka,
Cambridge University Press. Continental Center, Lonvai-La-
Neave.
Lund, R. (1989) Women in the Mahaweli Area, A feminist
Assessment, Paper for CENWOR, March, Colombo.
Sørensen, B.R. (1996), Relocated Lives, VU University Press,
Amsterdam

92
The details in the above presentation can be summerised as
follows
1. Drought is continuous even after irrigated water has
been supplied to the area.
2. Drought cannot be averted without a proper
environmental planning, where crop diversification,
forest harvesting and bio-energy production can be
utilised to diversify farmer economy.
3. It is only a long term (10 to 15 year) scientific
environmental plan and an employment diversification
process will absorb the additional population in the
area which will drastically reduce the effect of
drought.

93
Table 4.13 Human loss and social cost of migration to new settlement as compared with the home villages
(multiple responses)

Area loss of life with reason social cost with the occurrence
System C - n = 90 drowning - 1 eloping of children – 4
suicide 1 unwanted marriage - 2
sickness 1 divorce - 2
sickness due to change of
environment - 27

Home villages – n= 90 drowning - 0 eloping of children – 1

suicide – 2 unwanted marriage - 0
sickness - 4 divorce - 0
special sickness due to
environmental change - 3

94
Table 4.14 Drought - Understanding long-term contributory factors

Long term Remedy Situation in Sri Lanka

contributory
factors
Climatic change Scientific study Poor study programmes
Deforestation Application of scientific harvesting system Poor application
Spring recession Application of scientific harvesting system Non utilisation
Poor crop Application of crop diversification systems Non utilisation
diversification
systems
Poor employment Provision of marketing facilities Non utilisation
diversification
systems
Dependence on Provision of marketing facilities Non utilisation
outdated
economic
measures
Non utilisation of Application of harvesting systems Non utilisation
environmental
planning systems

95
 Table 4.15 Drought - Understanding short-term contributory factors

Short term Remedy Situation in Sri Lanka

contributory
factors
Poor water Inform the true situation and real application of Still at infancy
management knowledge, with farmer participation
system
Poor cropping Inform the true situation and real application of Very poorly conducted
systems knowledge, with farmer participation
Inefficient Utilise new harvesting knowledge Yet to be applied
agricultural
advisory system
Corruption in Engage anticorruption systems in place Need a concerted effort
relief systems

96
The other disaster which occur locally in Sri Lanka

Tornado
Cyclone
Thunderstorm

Tornado (Tables 4.16 and 4.17)

Frequency of tornadoes has increased in the last 10 years which can

be related to global climatic change. Therefore, the following
programme of work has to be installed for the reduction of damage
from tornadoes.

Table 4.16 Understanding long-term contributory factors

Contributory Remedy Situation in Sri

factor Lanka
Global climatic Study the Very few studies
change frequency and and media
localities most attention for
vulnerable preparation of
society
Construction on Settlement Very limited use
leeward side of planning of settlement
major wind planning
streams
Construction on Settlement Very limited use
valley bottoms planning of settlement
planning

97
Table 4.17 Understanding short-term contributory factors

Contributory Remedy Situation in Sri

factor Lanka
Local multi-cell No remedy Most of these cells
cumulus develop beneath
development the rocky slopes
bordering the
central highland
and a detailed
monitoring system
can be installed
using schools
Construction on Settlement Very limited use
valley bottom planning of settlement
lowlands and wind planning, detailed
gaps in the path of monitoring system
multi-cell cumulus can be installed
clouds using schools

Cyclone (Tables 4.18 and 4.19)

Frequency of cyclones have not increased drastically, but low speed

cyclonic depressions, which bring heavy rain and localised strong
winds have begun to enter the weather scene of Sri Lanka recently.
These depressions bring large quantities of rain and finally the result
is almost equal to an effect of a cyclone. The October-November
deluge in Sri Lanka was due to a depression of this type, which came
in place of expected cyclone with a fourteen year recurrence, which
was predicted for end October by the author over Rajarata Sevaya
programme on environment “Malimawa”. The possibility of floods
of Maha Oya and Deduru Oya was also predicted by the author in a
presentation in 2003 (Seneviratne and Karunaratne, 2003).

98
Table 4.18 Understanding long-term contributory factors and
damage

Contributory factor Remedy Situation in Sri

Lanka
El Ninio or La Nina Preparation of home Poor observation
gardens, power and data gathering,
transmission lines, but recently more
telecommunication attention has been
lines, drainage paid to the
systems to absorb occurrence of
high winds and cyclones and
heavy overland flow depressions.
in the most Educating public
vulnerable areas. through more
programmes in
media.
Establishment of a
Cyclone warning
system at Eastern
and Rajarata
Universities
Global warming and More detailed Poor observation
increased intensity research on effect of and data gathering,
of Equatorial global climatic but recently more
Easterlies change on attention has been
Equatorial paid to the
Easterlies. occurrence of
cyclones and
depressions.
Educating public
through more
programmes in
media.
Establishment of a
Cyclone warning
system at Eastern
and Rajarata
Universities

99
Table 4.19 Understanding short term contributory factors and
damage

Contributory Remedy Situation in Sri

factor Lanka
Increased surface Settlement Poor preparation,
turbulence due to planning data collection
poor settlement and heavy damage
planning is expected in
future
Increased risk Settlement Poor preparation,
from high velocity planning data collection
winds due to and heavy damage
addition of trees is expected in
into home garden future
system

Thunderstorm (Tables 4.20 and 4.21)

One of the prime indicators of global climatic change is the increased

number and intensity of thunderstorms. A twenty year collection of
random set of data on thunderstorm occurrence in a village in the
intermediate zone of Sri Lanka showed that there is definitely an
increase in the intensity of thunderstorms since 1980s (Seneviratne,
2005). Most of the farmers who were interviewed on the increased
unreliability of rainfall also have indicated this increased power
(intensity) of thunderstorms. Thunderstorm is a short-term

100
Table 4.20 Understanding contributory factors

Contributory factor Remedy Situation in Sri

Lanka
Increased surface Settlement planning Poor preparation,
turbulence due to data collection and
poor settlement heavy damage is
planning expected in the
future
Increased risk from Settlement planning Poor preparation,
high velocity winds data collection and
and lightning due to heavy damage is
addition of trees, expected in future
power poles and
aerials into home
garden system

Earth tremor/ Earthquake

Table 4.21 Understanding contributory factors

Contributory Remedy Situation in Sri

factor Lanka
Increased plate Use of new Poor preparation,
activity around Sri knowledge on data collection
Lanka land mass Settlement and heavy damage
planning is expected in the
future
Isostatic uplift Use of new Poor preparation,
knowledge on data collection
Settlement and heavy damage
planning is expected in the
future

Health disasters (Table 4.22)

Poverty and behaviour are the major causes of health disasters.

Poverty affects all the people of the low income group people in the
developing world. Behaviour is an individual factor and its impact is

101
common in the developed and developing, but higher care level
reduces the impact of behaviour on health in the developed world.
Ecology and behaviour are studied as causes of disasters in health in
this chapter.

Climate and animals are the two most important factors of ecology
which are responsible for creating disaster through transmission of
deadly diseases. Influenza, malaria and cholera are the most common
killer epidemic forming diseases which have resulted in millions of
deaths. However some viruses in Africa like Ebola and Avian flu in
Asia have become a serious threat to health.
Today malaria, cholera, encephalitis, schistosomiasis and
onechorsiasis are the diseases which cause disaster level amount of
deaths in a year. This type of disasters occurs generally in countries
with large populations or in the poorest parts of Africa and South
America.
The tropical humid climate of Sri Lanka facilities the breeding of
many types of disease causing agents common to its south Asian
neighbours, but the severity of infection is reduced by cultural
practices like use of traditional antiseptics, low consumption of raw
food and adherence to advice on health.
The breeding of agents causing dengue and diarrhoeal and
respiratory diseases are always associated with heavy rain, flooding
and poor sanitation. The high incidence of rabies in Sri Lanka can be
related to nonchalant attitudes in the rearing of dogs and the
existence of a large rat population, specially in the urban areas of the
country where rabies has been identified as a serious health risk
(Ministry of Health, 1996).

Behaviour

Use of alcohol and other hard drugs, and sexual behaviour create
disastrous situations of health in human populations. Many research
workers and media publications identify alcohol abuse and
alcoholism as two of the major behavioural factors in the increase of
health risks in men of Sri Lanka. Hettige (1990) and
Wickramasinghe (1993) have given some recent information on this
issue though many medical articles appear in the Ceylon Medical
Journal regularly. Hettige (1990), indicates that there is an increasing
trend of alcohol use in Sri Lanka, which has not been duly
recognized by the socio-political institutions. However, the diseases

102
or deaths originating from alcohol abuse are not recorded properly in
the medical records and therefore it is impossible to understand the
true effect of alcohol abuse in the Sri Lanka society. It is clear that
most of the families with extreme poverty in Sri Lanka are affected
by the alcohol abuse of the householder, but the status of the alcohol
as a cause or effect cannot be properly understood due to lack of
detailed research.

AIDS is an example of effect of sexual behaviour on health, which

has become global level disaster today. Origin of the AIDS virus is
still unknown and care is yet to be found. Countries of the developed
and developing are equally affected by AIDS revealing that basic
behaviour of people are important in creating health disasters in the
world.

Health disasters are formed through lack of clean water,

contamination of water and air with sewage and decaying corpses
and transmitting diseases downstream from the point of origin.
However development of powerful antibiotics have limited the effect
of this type of disasters recently, but still in some poorest countries
of the world the risk of disastrous levels of epidemics occur
immediately after a disaster of natural origin like flood, landslide and
earthquake. In Sri Lanka this type of disasters are very rare due to
rapid response of the public sector health officials and low distant to
any source of disaster. This accessibility factor in a comparatively
small island has actually lifted Sri Lanka to a better health status than
its neighbours.

Today Sri Lanka suffer seriously form the following health disasters
due to inefficient preventive services. However media reports reveal
that health illiteracy, lack of scientific environmental planning, non-
implementation of legislation is the major cause of epidemics in Sri
Lanka (Table 4.22)

103
 Table 4.22, Disease and disease environment as reported in media and sometimes confirmed by health authorities*

Disease Cause
Cholera – 1998 Contaminated food from poorly kept hotel*
Rabies (continuous) Lack of enforcement of law on domesticated animals / environment illiteracy of
society and planning authorities.
Malaria (continuous) Lack of safe drinking water (due to corruption in development plans)and poor
preventive services* (Seneviratne, 2003) / environment illiteracy of society and
planning authorities
Dengue (continuous) Poor waste and waste water disposal system* in the wet zone urban areas/
environment illiteracy of society and planning authorities.
Meningitis (2006) Origin was traced to waste entering Ma Oya above Mawanella*
Unknown disease in Uva Not yet known
province
Sexually transmitted More than 30 percent of the patients indicate that they had no basic knowledge on
diseases transmission system of the disease* and had multiple sex partners.
Chikin Gunya Virus suspected to be originating from waste and town and city sewers
Hard Drugs Low conviction rate prevents drug control due to socio-political corruption

104
Ministry of health sources indicate that about 3 billion rupees
are spent on treating diseases which originate from low
environment literacy in the society as given in table 4.22.
The presence of disease at disaster level is linked to poverty
and corruption in the developing world. Countries with fair
level of income have the capability of maintaining a better
health status than today, but financial corruption prevents
them from utilising scientific environmental planning to obtain
that better status. For example media reports reveal that the
poor health status is related to poor level of waste and
drainage control as long term plans for cleaner society are not
followed in these countries.

Literature survey on the health status of developed world

reveal that they have carried out large scale filling or draining
of wetlands to prevent mosquito borne diseases and use
massive quantities of chemical cleaning fluids to clean the
drainage system. Most of the researchers in health and
development agree (Senevirtane, 2003) that the better health
status of the developed is primarily a result of proper
environmental planning and enforcement of legislation on
waste control.

There is a relationship between income and health in both

developed and developing but the infectious diseases and non-
malignant chronic diseases are a result of unclean
environment.

105
Table 4.23 Understanding contributory factors

Contributory Remedy Situation in Sri

factor Lanka
Lack of clean Water resource Poor status, all
water planning public system
water has to be
boiled if it is to be
safe.
Lack of proper Settlement Poor status,
waste disposal planning leading to many
bacterial and viral
diseases abound
today heavy
damage is
expected in future
Lack of Efficient Poor due to lack
observance of monitoring by law of resources and
traffic regulations enforcement corruption

Corruption

Corruption is one of the most commonly present societal

hazards in the world, but its effect on economic development
is widely felt in the developing world. This is because the rate
of corruption in public services in these countries seriously
affects economic growth and development. Further,
corruption rejects the scientific method of development which
is the only stable way of development. Therefore developing
countries suffer continuously from lack of balanced social
development, which leads to continuing damage to both
natural and societal environment. This continuous damage to
natural and societal environment will increase the effect of
disaster in the developing countries, though the whole world is
subjected to an increase in natural and societal hazards in the
next 50 to 100 years. Most recent estimates indicate that most
of the developing countries will suffer serious disasters as they
have not utilised environmental planning in their programmes
of development.

106
Special case : Man and the elephant in Sri Lanka

The man-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka is a result of poor

environmental and settlement planning. The following story of
man and the elephant is constructed from the field data
collected by our students at Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
One of them ( Herath, 2007) has lived through an elephant
attack on their schools, garden and house. Life history records
and official records were the major data collection methods.
Ratios were assigned to the intensity of the attack, positioning
of the attacking elephant, what people were doing when they
were attacked by the elephant, and the location of houses in
the village. Table of ratios are presented in the Appendix 2.

The research programme revealed the following

1. elephant attacks is a result of scarcity of food in the

forest.

2. building settlements across elephant migration

pathways have increased the number of attacks.

3. most of the deaths occurred due to taking unnecessary

risks

4. elephant attacks are increasing as elephants have

develop a taste for paddy and other home garden crops

5. elephant attacks are increasing because the authorities

have no ability to take remedial measures through a
proper system of environmental planning.

Environmental management approach to the problem of

elephant attacks

Present situation:
Elephants have been pressurised heavily from human
activities: their food supply is lowered and migration paths
have been blocked.

107
Remedy
Humans have to provide food for the elephants and open their
old migration paths or construct new paths.

Possibility
Environmental Management students of the University of
Rajarata, Sri Lanka, can work with any organisation for
constructing a plan and implementing. Only a detailed
environmental plan will be able to solve the problem and not a
disintegrated system of various departments and authorities
working on this matter. 2006 reported about 60 deaths from
elephant attacks and about 80 elephants were killed by
humans. This disastrous situation is bound to increase
dramatically in the next 20 years as dry zone will be seriously
affected by drought resulting from climatic change

Understanding and living through disaster

This is an area with very limited research in disaster

management because
1. One disaster is different from an another
2. People always have the belief that disaster will happen
to someone and not to self
3. It is extremely difficult to collect experiences as the
experiences are associated with trauma and pain.

However, disaster managers have managed to construct some

systems in understanding and living through disaster taken
mainly from accident investigations conducted in the
developed world.

One disaster is different from another

One disaster is different from another due to many factors.

Firstly the differences begin from the wide ranging differences
in physical and social space (Table 4.23). For the people in
developing countries post-disaster recovery is not continuous

108
as the social security system is not capable of full
rehabilitation and reconstruction. For example the recovery
from Katrina in USA is almost complete by the time this book
is going to print, but recovery from the Puwakgahawela
landslide is yet to be stabilised where only a few farming
families lost their livelihood as compared to loss of about
60,00 businesses were reported from Hurricane Katrina. In
both disasters the loss of a family member, relative and a
friend is felt in the same way and it brings grief and trauma,
but in the developing world grief and trauma stays longer as
the loss is always attached to economic loss or traditional
belief system.

Socially, culture plays a great role in differentiating between

spaces in which disasters occur. For example in developed
countries where disaster management is well established the
occurrence of disaster is fairly well predicted and its scientific
base is understood by the people who are subjected to disaster.
For example in these countries places where disaster can occur
are always under surveillance and many scientific measures
are taken to reduce the impact of disaster. Once the disaster
occurs the necessary management services become active with
full force within a short period of time reducing the impact on
lives. This is because, public authorities have installed food
and medical security before the onset of the disaster season or
time with the help of scientific method on disaster
management. Developing countries are yet to establish this
scientific system of disaster management and suffer heavily
from disasters they can reduce damage beforehand. Some
examples from Sri Lanka are given below to show the
disasters which have occurred due to poor evaluation of
disaster capability in the last few years. Tsunami is not
included as Sri Lanka had no capability to know of its
occurrence due to its extremely low probability given by
scientists. However, the author pointed out in his book in 1977
that stories of high wave exist in folk lore in Sri Lanka.

109
Table 4.23 Difference in disaster

Disaster Factor for high level Level of Available

of destruction scientific knowledge
at the time of
disaster
2003 Floods and Unplanned Adequate scientific
landslides – Kalu, construction on information was
Gin and Nilvala flood plain – available, but
(damage estimate 30 settlement planners
billion rupees) have disregarded
this information.
2006 floods and Unplanned Adequate scientific
landslides and construction on information was
landslides steep slopes, poor available, but
road design and settlement planners
poor roadside have disregarded
drainage – (damage this information
estimate 60 billion
rupees)
Flash floods in Unplanned Adequate scientific
towns and cities of construction and information was
Sri Lanka poor drainage – available, but
damage estimate settlement planners
/annual 5 to 6 have disregarded
billion rupees) this information
Road and Roadside Blockage of drains Non-enforcement of
destruction in Sri and culverts (annual legislation to
Lanka repair cost –about 5 maintain drains and
billion rupees) culverts

Therefore management of space makes one disaster different

from another as some societies are not vigilant and ready to
manage its probable disaster scenario as given by scientific
information system.

People always have the belief that disaster will happen to

someone and not to self.
Story 21
In the class of 1974 author was questioned by a student on
building on the coast, because this student was residing only
about 50 meters from the beach. Author responded with the
scientific notion on Tsunamis and explained that Tsunami is a
possibility in any coast as Plate Movement is a continuing

110
activity. Author further said that “ coasts of Sri Lanka are
situated between two major plate boundaries with Carlsberg
Ridge in the west and Pacific-Indo Australian subduction zone
in the east, which can propagate powerful earthquakes
resulting in Tsuanmis. The student was not convinced and
later he has commented to his fellow students that “ how can
Tsunamis occur in Sri Lanka that it is so far away from these
areas of activity and the author is only being highly
theoretical.” This student and his wife lost their lives in the
20041226 south Asian mega Tsunami as his house was
completely destroyed.
Story 22

When author was conducting the radio programme on hazards

and disasters (Seneviratne and Jayantha, 2005a), one grand
mother who had the habit of listening to the programme
regularly indicated that she decided to remove some tall trees
from her garden in fear of tornadoes, because the author has
warned of increased intensity of winds in her area. She further
informed the author that her neighbour suffered a sizable
damage from falling trees, because neighbour did not remove
the tall trees adjacent to her house as instructed.

Stories 21 and 22 indicate the different approaches to

warnings given by scientists on disasters in a developing
country. Stories of 20041226 Asian Mega Tsunamis and
Hurricane Katrina are full of stories of this nature. The
warnings given of possible Tsunamis in Thai coasts led to the
removal of the head of meteorological department and about
1000,000 people in New Orleans did not evacuate after the
warning of a category 5 or 4 hurricane warning respectively.
After the warning of a powerful hurricane was issued, CNN
showed a lady in New Orleans responding to their news
reporter, and saying “ I have got groceries, I have got water ,
pray for us” . this is the difference between self in responding
to disaster prediction and disaster. However, disaster has to be
considered as a serious threat to life today, because of
following major factors.

a) We are living in an era of rapid climatic

and geologic change than we have
experienced before.

111
 b) We are living in densely populated areas
and the flow of water and wind is
different from our past experiences. This
is because planning is yet to account for
the recent changes in intensity and vigour
of these events.
c) Predictions are more reliable than in the
past due to rapidly developing scientific
knowledge

It is extremely difficult to collect experiences as the

experiences are associated with loss of equipment of the
scientists and trauma and pain in the people succumbed to
disaster.

Collecting information on disaster is one of the major

problems of disaster management. This is because most of the
disasters carry massive forces of nature or human action which
are difficult to be collected using standard machinery or
survey methods. For example the National Weather Centre in
USA lost their radar and wind wane during hurricane Mitch
and was unable to collect the highest wind speeds. Flood
warning systems are useless when levees are not properly
maintained. However, science is advancing rapidly towards
documenting disaster and many developed countries have
installed many valuable and reliable systems incorporating
equipment with local societal support systems. Universities in
these countries are in the forefront of disaster management
with the use of their experts and students in collecting data and
preparing predictions. However developing nations are yet to
implement these advanced systems mainly due to low
acceptance of scientific knowledge in daily life. Most of the
developing nations do not identify the experiences of their
traditional system as a valid form of science, which removes a
massive knowledge base from disaster management. For
example there is a massive knowledge base of disaster in our
ancient Rajarata civilisation, which we have not utilised for
present day disaster management. During the time of ancient
civilisation settlement was scientifically planned, weva or the
reservoir was kept in pristine condition, catchment area was
well preserved through a system of environmental

112
management which limited destruction and loss. This
knowledge base has to be accepted because the present day
system of human settlement in the developed countries is
formed on the ideals similar to that of our ancient civilisation,
which reduced disaster to an acceptable level (Refer to CS 1).

Trauma and pain of the disaster is the part which cannot be

removed from people for a long period of time or until they
live. However, what is remembered during the time of facing
disaster is highly valuable to emergency services in planning
to face the next similar disaster event.
Most of the landslide survivours talk of a massive thunder just
before the occurrence of the slide. This is the process of
massive shear failure, which is today used by scientists to
warn of the oncoming slide.
The following statements were taken from CNN/BBC/Reality
TV/National Geographic TV/ Discovery Channel/ Rupavahini.

The 9/11 attack on Pentagon taught us that strengthen glass

can save many lives in strategically important buildings
(USA).
Low and wide concrete walls made compulsory by Malaysian
tourism authority saved many lives during the south Asian
Mega Tsunami in their country (Malaysia).
Listening to the elephants saved many lives in one tourist
resort in Thailand (Thailand).
Listening to one school teacher saved many lives in eastern Sri
Lanka. No large animal in Yala National park was lost to
south Asian Mega Tsunami (Rupavahini).
The survival in a Tsunami depends on your ability stay afloat
(women in Thailand).
If your are in the sea deeper than 3 meters dive to the bottom
and wait for the wave to pass (4 survivours from Sri Lanka).
Do not build on the side of a valley which is clogged up by
debris, because these are the areas with high landslide
probability ( Swiss expert on CNN).
Clean the debris filled mountain streams regularly (Swiss
expert on BBC).

Disaster is part of human civilisation and learning about

disaster requires all types of knowledge and experience. Next
a study of risk is presented to the reader.

113
Table 4.24 Difference in space in disaster

Types of physical Percent Impact on Developed world – Developing world - where long
space susceptibility livelihood where long term social term social security is not available
(based on White, security is available-
1979)
Extremely risky Over 75 percent Extreme Felt personal loss with Felt personal loss with heavy
heavy loss of income, income loss to the family,
but recovery is possible sometimes leading to life time
poverty.
Highly risky 50 to 74 percent High Felt personal loss with Felt personal loss with income loss
some loss of income to the family, with long term
poverty.
Moderately risky 25 to 49 percent Moderate Only personal loss is Felt personal loss with income loss
felt as public support is to the family and long term
available poverty.
Low risk Less than 25 Low Only personal loss is Felt personal loss with income loss
percent felt as public support is to the family and long term
available poverty.

114
Risk analysis

Risk: risk is present in all activities we pursue in our daily

lives. Risk of environmental hazards cannot be fully calculated
because the nature of occurrence varies from one incident to
another. Further, the level of risk of an occurrence changes
from one society to another. For example people living in
coastal areas are generally not fearful of the sea, but inland
living people fear sea. In addition people do not think about
risk unless there is a threatening situation around and
sometimes they think that though there is a risk, it may not be
life threatening. These types of attitudes make the scientific
value of risk not universally applicable. However the concept
behind the scientific notion of risk is to construct a generally
acceptable concept of risk using statistical probabilities.

In relation to environmental hazards, risks can be categorised

as involuntary and voluntary (Smith, 2000).
Involuntary risks are the risks, which are undertaken without
knowing the severity of the hazard. Living in an earthquake
zone or landslide area makes the person to know about the
risk, but he cannot fully estimate the risk. This is because the
occurrence of these types of events is not fully predictable and
they do not occur all the time. Most of the geological risks are
in this category.
Voluntary risks are the risks taken with a full knowledge of
the hazard. For example living on the bank of a river which
floods every year makes the resident aware of the risk, but
because of lack of land in a safe area leads him to live in a
high risk area. All types of societal hazards can be put into this
category.
Statistical analysis of risk is based on theories of probability
and simple equation of

R= p x L can be used to calculate risk of an event

R is risk
p is the probability of the event
L is the loss

To calculate probability of an event there are many statistical

and mathematical procedures, which can be taken from books
on statistics. Probability is the chance of occurrence of an
event. For example probability of a disastrous flood in Kalu
Ganga valley can be calculated from the following
information.

115
Floods in Kalu ganga valley are an annual event and some
times there may be two to three minor floods, which submerge
the perennial swamps around the river bed and some areas
very close to the bank. The probability of these events is
therefore

Pmf = 3/ 365 once in 121.6 days of the years

If these floods stay on for a total of 12 hours (3 minor flood

stay for a total time period of 12 hours) the probability in
hours under flood is

Pmfh = 12 / 365 x 24

=12/8760

= .001 or only once in a thousand hours (.001x1000

gives 1).

The easiest way to understand for the society is once in 120 to

130 days a minor flood will occur in the catchment.

Then the maximum height of the minor flood can be

calculated using the probability and average height of flood.

P (probability) is once in 121 days and the average minor

flood level calculated for Rathnapura town is around .5 meters
above bank full level. Then the probability of the minor flood
of 0.3 meters above bank full level is same as the probability
of the flood, which is once in 121days.

High flood is where the flood level of 0.4 to 0.6 meters above
bank full level is reached. A disastrous flood is where the
flood level rises to 1 meter above bank full level. The
probability of that even is known to hydrologists through the
analysis of hydrological data of Kalu Ganga catchment. The
flow characteristics of Kalu Ganga between 1956 and 2006
indicate that it has the following flood characteristics (Table
4.24).

116
Table 4.25 Recurrence of flood at Rathnapura town

Flood type Recurrence interval

Minor - 0.5 ms above bank Every 121 days
full
High - 0.4 to 0.6 ms above Every year
bank full
Disastrous – above 1 m. Once every 25/50/100 years

Then the disaster management plan for Rathnapura can

include a system of settlement planning to minimise
destruction and damage. The present status is that the
authorities and people have not followed any scientific plan
and they will continuously suffer from flood damage.

The damage expected in the next disastrous flood which may

occur in 2028 or will occur earlier than that due to effect of
climatic change can be calculated from the data on value of
property and life on the floodable area.

The damage to life and property in 2003 flood can be taken as

a basis for these calculations.

Lives lost – 64
Property damage 12 billion rupees

Expected rise in the population to 2028 – 1.2 percent (national

average)
Expected property construction on floodable land to 2028 – 12
percent (this rate was calculated on the basis of field work
carried out by students)
Then without any environmental plan in action the lives lost in
the next disastrous flood will increase by 1.2 percent to about
77 and property damage by 12 percent to 13.4 billion rupees at
present rupee value. Implementation of a scientific
environmental plan over a period of about 5 years in the area
will cost about 10 billion rupees, which will reduce the effect
of a disastrous flood by about 5 to 6 billion rupees, and
negligible damage by all other types of floods. Then within the
time period where a disastrous flood is expected, the
authorities have the capability of managing the environment to
minimise the impact of disaster.

117
The probability value therefore gives the expected value and
variability of disaster, which is the most important scientific
aspect of disaster management. This information is constantly
used in business and three stages of risk are available to
societies.
1. Risk aversion
2. risk neutral
3. risk loving

1. Risk aversion

This is the preference of a low risk environment to a high

risk environment. The developed countries are situated in
this level, with a highly organised system of disaster
prevention and control, which has reduced their loss of life
and property damage by about 60 to 70 percent.

2. Risk neutral

Almost all the developing countries are in this category

with risk is considered as a distant factor, which may or
may not affect them. This has led to a massive destruction
of life and property in these countries in the last 10 years
as global climatic change and geological changes have
begun to affect these countries heavily. It is estimated that
the developed countries have managed only to save 20 to
30 percent of the lives and property exposed to disaster in
their countries. The total estimated damage from disasters
indicates that the economies of developing countries have
suffer heavily in the last ten years due to lack of
environmental planning and poor settlement planning.

The case of Sri Lanka is also discussed under risk neutral.

Disaster management system in practice in Sri Lanka
indicates that majority of the people and institutions are in
the category of risk neutral. This is a stage of being
indifferent to risks. Recently this attitude has advanced
further with the establishment of a free enterprise and
experiences of war. Free enterprise without proper

118
legislation has initiated a “ money chase” environment
where corruption is abound and majority of the people feel
helpless against risks around them as most of these risks
originate due to inefficiency of the application of
legislation or order. Though these drawbacks are reported
daily in media and in many other information systems
high rate of institutional corruption prevent the
establishment of a safe environment.
Living with war for about 25 years has installed fear in the
populace but recently they have developed apathy towards
many disastrous situations. The inability of the security
forces to stop dangerous material flow is mainly a result of
societal corruption where a set of highly corrupt officials,
politicians, traders, armed force personal and NGO's have
sold their fellow citizens for a few rupees. These two
situations are common in all the developing and rarely
occur in the developed world.

The experiences of the developed world and the countries

of the fast developing like Malaysia and China indicate
that only by use of strict legislation and taxation these
risks can be reduced.

3. Risk loving

This is normally present within the domain of personal

behaviour in association with events like investment, job
selection, and selection of sex partners, spying and
adventure.
Living in high risk places under disaster conditions is very
rare in literate societies, however when environmental
literacy is poor people and some times societies can live
under these conditions. This type of existence is very
common in the developing world where risk is neglected
either due to poverty or lack of environmental planning.
In Sri Lanka situations like poor road conditions, traffic
accidents, delays in government offices, bribe taking and
treason can be related to risk loving behaviour. The
quantity of media material available in the news papers of
Sri Lanka indicate that these activities are on the increase
and effect of these activities are felt seriously on the

119
economy. For example risk loving nature of drivers with
low literacy in large vehicles cost about 75 percent of the
lives lost and about 3 to 4 billion rupees damage to
property and machinery annually.

Risk made simple

Simple analysis of risk of a disaster in stages is presented

below with an aim of simplifying the understanding of
risk.

Risk is the thought of getting damaged, injured or dead.

For example when a child attempts something which is
difficult the mother or the adult will tell the child “NO”,
“DON‟T” , which is the first command a child receives on
risk. Through the constant contact with the mother child
learns to identify risk and risky work. This provides the
child with various risk levels of various types of
environments, work and play. However, child will forget
most of the past experiences with risk until the age of 10
or 12 and repeat many risky works and get injured or
damage property. The risks which will be faced at this
stage are mostly homebound or at school connected to
school going.
The adolescence brings a child closer to environmental
risks outside home and school as the child begins to move
among is peer group more than his home people. This is
also the great age of experimentation and media reports
indicate that a fair amount (about 35 to 45 percent) of
children die of risks taken without full knowledge of the
disaster during this age. Drowning, bicycle accidents,
motor cycle accidents and adventure in the wild are the
major causes of these deaths.
The youth brings the society closer to a person with many
peer groups mixing at work, high school and fun. This is
the age of dual responsibility where the self begins to plan
for the future, fall in love, help parents and family and
keep a constant contact with friends. Youth begins to take
environment more seriously than before but experiences
with anti social activities or adventure can bring risks
closer to the youth. In addition to risks related to high
mobility, drugs, alcohol and sex enter the life of a youth.

120
However in comparison to adolescence only about 12 to
15 percent of youth die of exposure to high risks. The
highest risk for youth is brought about by conflict,
terrorism and war which amount to about 87 percent of all
deaths in youth. Today it is estimated that about 100 to
150 youth loose their lives daily use to conflict, terrorism
and war. The adventure takes the next place in death of
youth as youth is identified as the age of adventure.
At adulthood man is guided to stay away from risks as his
responsibilities to home and society becomes more
valuable. Except for adults working in risky enterprises
like industry and security services the rest have very low
level of risks. However, adult whom have not grown out
of their youth remain vulnerable to risks related to anti-
social activities, drugs and sex. Towards the latter part of
adulthood people are exposed to high amount of health
risks as they have worked harder and wasted or comfort
has made them suffering from chronic diseases.
Once people pass their adulthood into old age risk of
disease becomes well noted in their lives. Then it is clear
that the concept of risk is highly related to life cycle and
immediate living, working and pleasure environments.
Learning to evaluate these variables makes someone better
equipped to deal with risks in life.

Reducing risk

Diversification, insurance, actual fairness and utilisation

of complete information system are the best ways of
reducing risk. Taken from business systems these methods
of reducing risk are highly valuable to any study of risk
reduction. However all these actions require the efficient
operation of a planned work programme. Then the
developing countries have many difficulties in conducting
these actions as they have no efficient institutional
framework.

Diversification can be applied to settlements which are

affected by natural disasters through removal of
construction to a safer site. Corruption can be limited by
decentralising the financial authority to village level
officers. Traffic congestion can be minimised by
cancellation of right to park on highways.

121
Insurance is an asset to all in facing disaster. The
developed world has a well established long-term
insurance system, where people can benefit during
disaster. The developing world is yet to establish universal
insurance systems which can benefit its populace and
attempts to establish such systems are hindered by
inefficient taxation systems in them.

Actual fairness in governance and management is a distant

truth to developing countries as they are yet to establish
good governance. Lack of good governance in developing
world has led to an increase of natural and societal
disasters in them. War and terrorism in most of the
developing countries is primarily a result of poor
economic status and equality. The use of complete
information system in disaster management is activated
only through actual fairness.

Personal Glimpse

Author thinks that he should present his personal glimpse

into risk as he has lived in many types of environments in
Sri Lanka, Africa, Europe and travelled widely all over the
world covering about 47 countries and worked under
modern and traditional systems. Further author believes
that the only way to reduce risk is to follow the combined
scientific truth of traditional and modern understanding of
environment and development. Author was under care
and guidance of his parents where he learned early to
control risks and live safely. However, the author had two
major engagements with death during adolescence, once a
close encounter with drowning in Kalu Ganaga and
another close encounter with a lepored, walking in the
Samanla forest. The learning of breathing helped the
author to escape drowning and lessons on mountain hiking
learned from his father led him to escape from the lepored.

Youth and adulthood brought a great period of exploration

to the author with constant engagements with mountain
climbing and trekking in all the major mountain ranges of
Sri Lanka, Europe and West Africa between 20 and 35

122
years of age. Many close encounters with death were
experienced during this period of travel, but author
managed to stay alive as he managed to practise principles
of disaster control.

Entering his old age author has managed to continue his

climbing and trekking and at the age of 56 he has
managed to climb the highest mountain in Northern
Europe (Gladdhopigen in Norway), trek through Arctic
Circle and the highlands of Northern Norway at the age of
56. most of his climbings and treks were conducted on
solo basis and his advice to all adventurers is “do not take
unnecessary risks” .

Risk in relation to immediate living environment is

assessed below

Natural disasters

Stage 1- when you are building your house/ commercial

establishment check for the possible disasters around

Find out the pattern of occurrence or probability of

occurrence. Use available scientific information. Details
of these are available with researchers in Universities.
Older people in the area can give you some information.
Folk lore may be helpful. Information given by older
people and folk lore has to be presented to a disaster
analyst for valuation.
Remember that natural disasters can be activated by man
through building improperly. Landslides can begin when
the slope is cut into steeper than natural/ flood level can
rise in the valley when some parts of the plain is filled and
raised to construct.

All major road projects in the highland of Sri Lanka

activate rock and landslide of small to medium scale –
total extra expenditure on road repair between Gampola
and Paradeka was estimated to be about 1 to 2 million
rupees. This expenditure has to continue until slopes are
settled which means that for another about five to ten

123
years an annual damage of about 1 million is expected. In
addition danger to traffic remains a serious problem.
Similar damage continues to occur in Mathale- Kandy
highway every year since its construction.

Filled flood plain diverted flood water to unexpected areas

in all the floods of 2003 and 2006. it should be
remembered the flood plain is constructed by the river to
hold its flood waters during major recurring floods of 50
and 100 years. These floods are hardly noticed by man,
but they arrive on schedule only with one or two year shift
from the exact date of occurrence. Therefore man should
not forget that the nature has its calendar and if man is to
alter the environment man should be ready for disaster.

Stage 2
Identify the possible disasters in your area/ their time of
occurrence/ their nature over the last 10 years/ take
maximum precautions to save life.

In terms of landslides the answer is slope stabilisation

with proper foundations, which can hold until the lives are
saved. With reference to flooding avoid areas with flash
flood and built with maximum resistance to flood.
Time of occurrence of disasters like landslides and flood
are seasonal and observation of the environment will save
lives. This type of observation can be conducted with the
aid of public services and when they are ineffective the
community can contact a higher research body like
university for help.

Stage3

The evaluation supplied by the scientists has to be

followed and the recommendation has to be implemented.
However it should be remembered that most of the
predictions of natural disasters may be not very accurate
and the people affected should not be discouraged by the
failure of prediction.

124
The adherence to this type of response system will
minimise the risk of death from natural disasters.

Societal disasters –

These disasters occur mainly due to increased density of

settlement, roads and high mobility of people. In addition
when man begins to forego ethical behaviour in
community development, corruption is created. Increased
road and building density increases the risk of traffic
accidents, if the settlements are not properly planned. Fro
example the high rate of fatal accidents on Sri Lanka roads
are due to non-provision of pedestrian ways, non-
provision of legal facilities to punish errand drivers and
locating housing areas at the side of highways.

Social corruption leads to anti-social behaviour, which

increases conflict in the community. Conflict leads to a
crisis in law and order. Socio-political corruption in
developing countries are noted as the most damaging
factor in economic development and some of the global
funding authorities have stopped direct monetary
allocations to them.

This sad situation is not only supported by local socio-

political situation , but also by some corrupt elements in
the developed world financial system, which allow
illegally gained wealth of the elite of the developing world
to be saved in the banks and investment companies of the
developed world. This system of corruption is identified
by many (Usman, Sen and Scudder) as the major reason
for poverty in the developing world.

Societal risks are kept under control in the developed

countries through application of legislation and continuing
education. However, there is no possibility of controlling
societal disasters in the developing world and

The occurrence of disaster in Sri Lanka is generalised in

Map1, which can be used as a basis of understanding in
future.

125
Tables 4/22/1 to 4/22/4 show signs to be watched if there
is no general warning given by public authorities. The
information given here is based on the collection of life
stories from various sources such as field work, global TV
channels (Discovery , BBC, CNN, Reality TV, National
Geographic, Animal Planet etc.). however, the procedure
given here is highly generalised, but will save lives.

Facing disaster

People at risk should be educated continuously through

the use of local information network, national and regional
radio and television networks. Media system in operation
should have a compulsory time slot at least thrice weekly
for the purpose of preparation for the disaster.

126
 Table 4/26/1 During disaster (2 major geological environmental disasters affecting Sri Lanka)

Type Immediate action Secondary Living through

action
Earthquake Go for cover, if you are When shaking Do not return until all the after shocks are over. Help the
in the house go under stops run out to victims as much as you can. Get the community together.
strong furniture (table, clear area Beware of unknown visitors. Stay with known people.
bed)
Flood Do not wait for the last Stay in high Stay in high ground until water recedes. Help the victims as
minute ground much as you can. Get the community together. Beware of
unknown visitors. Stay with known people together

127
 Table 4/26/2 During disaster (2 major geological environmental disasters affecting Sri Lanka)

Type Immediate action Secondary Living through

action
Cyclone Go for cover, if you are Go out when wind Help the victims as much as you can. Get the
and tornado in the house go under a stops community together. Beware of unknown
strong furniture (table, visitors. Stay with known people together
bed) do not go out to see
the wind
Landslide Run away form the path Stay away from Help the victims as much as you can. Get the
the path community together. Beware of unknown
visitors. Stay with known people together

128
Table 4/26/3 During disaster (four major societal environmental disasters affecting Sri Lanka)

Type Immediate Secondary Living through

action action
Corruption Try not to Organise Continue campaigning (but take care
support societal as the corrupt may attempt to harm
action you)
Traffic accidents Try help Calm the Continue campaigning for safe driving
victims environment (but take care as the corrupt may
attempt to harm you)
Sadism/ Inefficiency Try not to Organise Continue campaigning for efficiency
support societal and good governance (but take care as
action the corrupt may attempt to harm you)

129
Table 4/26/4 During disaster (Health disaster)

Type Immediate action Secondary action Living through

Epidemic Follow medical advice Organise societal action Follow medical advice until the
declaration of safety by
authorities
Emergency after any natural Try to give first aid, Organise societal action to Follow medical advice until the
disaster bring seriously injured find any medicines left in declaration of safety by
to the nearest transport the vicinity authorities
point
Traffic accidents Try help victims, try to Calm the environment Continue campaigning for safe
stop bleeding with any driving (but take care as the
method known to you corrupt may attempt to harm you)

130
The following schedule is prepared for developing countries
including Sri Lanka

At the onset of the disaster (Tables 4/26/1, 4/26/2 and 4/26/3)

1. Evacuate at the moment of warning

before evacuating collect essential food items, medicine,
water and clothing for hard wear
2. Always follow the advice of a security personal or an elder
in the
Community in the process of evacuation
3. Use all your ability and strength to keep people away from
danger

During disaster

1. Disaster will pass quickly (see time line of natural disaster

causing elements and factors tables 4.27 to 4.36,
(Seneviratne, 2006b), but it will be extremely difficult to
bear.
2. if you survive without serious injury, try to help people who
are seriously injured or need medical attention

First hour to 12 hours after disaster

1. Outside help will not be able to reach you in disasters which

involve natural forces and if you are not seriously injured try
to help the seriously injured and weak and feeble. Conserve
all food and water available. Try not to be afraid of dead.
Looting may begin and be cooperative with any force as the
looters may kill you.

13th hour to 24 hours after disaster

1. Outside help may come in trickles and you may or may not
get food and
2. Water and fear will grip you. Therefore be brave and keep
on working with injured. Looting will continue and be
cooperative with any force as the looters may kill you.

131
25th hour and after

1. Outside help will arrive and you can handover relief work
to others and
become a helper to them.

Always remember that the disaster is a time of opportunity

for anti-social elements and they may even kill to achieve
their objectives, in the absence of proper law enforcement
agencies.

132
 Table 4/27 Living pulses of the earth – EARTHQUAKES and VOLCANIC ERUPTION releasing pressure of the
earth‟s interior

Types of breathes and Energy release Time period Result

shakes
Earth tremor/ Volcanic 1 Hiroshima 1 – 5 Seconds with 1 after Shake
tremor bomb shock
Earthquakes below 2 to 3 Hiroshima 3 –7 Seconds with 1 to 2 after Shake and break
4.5Richter scale/ shocks
volcanic gas burst bombs
Earthquakes 4.5 to 5.4 2 to 4 Hiroshima 3 – 10 Seconds with 1 to 2 Shake and break – temporary buildings, vehicles speeding over 100km/hr
Richter scale/ volcanic bombs after shocks can be thrown out of the road
pyroclastic flow
Earthquakes 5.5 to 6.4 20 Hiroshima 3 –15 Seconds with 2 to 3 Shake and break – temporary buildings, some weak well constructed
Richter scale/ low bombs after shocks buildings, vehicles speeding over 60 km/hr can be thrown out of the road,
level volcanic mud slides and landslides can be generated
explosions
Earthquakes 6.5 to 7.4 200 Hiroshima 5 – 20 Seconds with 3 to 4 Shake and break – temporary weak and even some well constructed
Richter scale/ bombs after shocks buildings, vehicles speeding over 40 km/hr can be thrown out of the road,
moderate level mud flow, and landslides and small Tsunami can be generated
volcanic explosions
Earthquakes 7.5 to 8.4 2000 Hiroshima 10 – 20 Seconds with 4 to 5 Shake and break – all buildings without earthquake proofing, vehicles
Richter scale/ high bombs after shocks parked can be thrown out of the road – mud flow, landslides and Tsunami
level volcanic can be generated
explosions
Earthquakes 8.5 to 9.4 10,000 Hiroshima 20 – 30 Seconds with 5 to 6 Shake and break – all buildings without earthquake proofing and even
Richter scale/ bombs after shocks some earthquake proofed heavy buildings, vehicles parked can be thrown
disastrous out of the road, mud flow, landslides and Tsunami generated
volcanicexplosions

* 1 Hiroshima bomb (atomic) is equal to about 500,000 claymore mines.

133
 Table 4/28 Living pulses of the earth - LANDSLIDES - moving masses of soil and rock

Types of Time Velocity Material involved Result

breathes period
and
shakes
Landslide Seconds 60 to 150 km/hr Soil, rock, gravel, mud, Destruction of any human construction on its path
to few vegetation and water
minutes
Mud slide Few to 90 to 300 km/hr Mostly mud and sand and few Destruction of any human construction on its path
many rocks and vegetation
seconds
Gravel Few to 30 to 70 km/hr Mostly gravel, rocks and Destruction of any human construction on its path
slide many vegetation
seconds
Rock fall Few to 150 to 400 km/hr Mostly large blocks of rocks Destruction of any human construction on its path
many and some soil
seconds
Creep Few 2 to 5 cms/hr Mostly large blocks of soil Destruction of any
minutes to and regolith. Sometimes human construction on
many rock and boulders are its path
days and embedded in it.
some
times
many
years
Flow Few 30 to 60 km/hr Mostly small quantities Burial of any human
seconds to mud, sand and gravel construction on its
minutes path

134
 Table 4.29 Living pulses of the earth - STREAMS (smaller than 5 meter of channel width) and RIVERS (5 meter or
bigger than 5 meter channel width)

Types of Time period Velocity Material involved Result

breathes and
shakes
Low flow Vary on 3 to 6 km/hr Water, mud and sand Gentle flow - enjoyable
rainfall
Medium flow High rainfall 5 to 10 km/hr Water, mud sand and Moderate flow – be careful
vegetation
High flow Very high 20 to 30 Water, mud sand, gravel High flow – be very careful
rainfall km/hr vegetation and
settlement debris
Flood flow Extremely 30 to 50 Water, mud sand, gravel Flood – be extremely careful
high rainfall km/hr vegetation and
settlement debris
Catastrophic Extremely 30 to 70 Water, mud sand, gravel Raging Flood – stay away from the stream or
flood high rainfall km/hr vegetation and river
settlement debris

135
 Table 4.30 Living pulses of the earth - WIND

Types of breathes Time period Velocity Material involved Result

and shakes
Gentle wind 80 to 90 percent of the 2 to 5 Dust and light objects (paper and polythene bags) Enjoyable
time km/hr
Moderate wind 8 to 20 percent of the 4 to 7 Dust, fine sand and light objects (leaves, paper, paper bags, Manageable but discomfort to women as
time km/hr polythene bags and heavy plastic bags and bottles) long dresses and hair shaking, cycling
becomes difficult, kites can fly
Strong winds 1 to 2 percent of the 8 to 15 Dust, fine sand, coarse sand, light objects leaves, paper, paper Difficult to manage discomfort to women
time km/hr bags, polythene bags and heavy plastic bags and bottles, twigs as long dresses and hair shaking, cycling
and dry branches. Dust rises above the head. becomes very difficult, kites can fly
high, felt by motor vehicles. Difficult to
carry umbrellas.
Light Gale force Less than 0.3 percent 15 to 30 Dust, fine sand, coarse sand, light objects leaves, paper, paper Very difficult to manage serious
winds of the time km/hr bags, polythene bags and heavy plastic bags and bottles, twigs discomfort to women as long dresses and
and dry branches. Dust rises above the head. Weak branches hair shaking, cycling becomes extremely
break. Some temporary housing and bird‟s nests will break. difficult, kites will tumble, felt strongly
by motor vehicles. Cannot carry
umbrellas.
Strong gale force Less than 0.1 percent 30 to 60 Objects leaves, paper, paper bags, polythene bags and heavy Dangerous to be outside. Low visibility
winds of the time km/hr plastic bags and bottles, twigs and dry branches. Dust rises and limited flying
above the head. Weak branches break. New branches break,
weak trees fall, weak roofing fly. All temporary housing and
bird‟s nests will break. Children less than 10 kilos will fall.
Cats and dogs will have difficulty in staying upright. All
animals will go into hiding
Cyclonic/Hurricane/ Less than 0.01 percent Over 60 All objects not built from reinforced concrete or steel is All humans and animals can die. Low
Typhoon/Tornado of the time and up to subjected to damage or destruction. All human and animal life visibility and No flying
/Khamsin type 300 km/hr is in danger.
winds
136
Table 4.31 Living pulses of the earth – CLOUDS

Type of Time period Velocity Size , location in the sky, Material involved Result
formation
Cirrus 1 percent 5 to 10 km/hr Small – above 1000 m, Ice particles Dry weather
Stratus - 2 percent 10 to 15 km/hr Small above 1000 m, Ice particles and some water droplets Dry weather and sometimes
cirro dew
Stratus - 3 percent 10 to 20 km/hr Moderate to big, above 1000 m, Ice particles and some Dry weather and sometimes
cumulo water droplets dew
Stratus 20 to 25 percent 6 to 20 km/hr Moderate to big, form over oceans above 1000m , drift to Wet weather and some times
land, Water droplets long duration gentle rain
Strato - 8 percent 10 to 30 km/hr Moderate to big, form over oceans above 1000m drift to Wet weather and gentle to
Nimbus land, Water droplets moderate rain
Strato – 4 percent 10 to 30 km/hr Moderate to very big, form over warm oceans above Wet weather and gentle to
Nimbus – 1000m and drift towards land, large from 200 square strong rain of long duration
depressional kilometres to 3000 square kilometres, Water droplets
clouds
Cumulus 50 to 60 5 to 30 km/hr Moderate to big Water droplets, form at 3000 to 10000 Wet weather and some times
percent meters above ground and drift down to about 1000 meters long duration rain
Cumulo- 11 percent 10 to 40 km/hr Big to very big, form at 3000 to 10000 meters above Rain to short duration heavy
Nimbus ground and drift down to about 1000 meters, Water rain with lightning
droplets
Double Cell 0.2 percent 20 to 60 km/hr Big to very big, Water droplets form at 3000 to 10000 Rain and high intensity rain.
Cumulo- meters above ground and drift down to about 1000 meters Low visibility and No flying
Nimbus
Multiple 0.01 percent 40 to 300 km/hr Big to very big, form at 5000 to 10000 meters above High intensity rain and
Cell ground and drift down to about 1000meters, Water winds Cyclonic and
cumulus droplets Tornado. Low visibility and
No flying

137
 Table 4.32 Living pulses of the earth – RAINFALL/ SNOW FALL / ICE FALL

Types of Time period Velocity Size , Material involved Result

breathes and
shakes
Slight rain/ 10 to 20 minutes 0.2 to 0.3 0.005 mm to 0.001 mm, water Water droplets snow and ice flakes these can make the ground
Snow drops meters per droplets, snow flakes and ice flakes slippery.
second
Moderate 10 to 30 minutes 0.4 to 0.6 0.003 mm to 0.01mm, water droplets, Water droplets and large snow and ice flakes these can make the flow
rain/ Snow meters per snow flakes and ground slippery
fall second
Heavy rain / 10 to 45 minutes 0.4 to 0.8 0.01 mm to 0.5 mm, water droplets, Water droplets and snow flakes.
Snow fall meters per snow flakes
second
Torrential 20 to 45 minutes 0.4 to 1.0 0.01 mm to 0.5 mm, water droplets, Water droplets and snow flakes. Low visibility and No flying
rain/ Snow meters per snow flakes
Storm second
(Blizzard)

138
Table 4.33 Living pulses of the earth – DUST STORM

Types Time Velocity Size , Material involved Result

of period
breathes
and
shakes
Dust 1 to 10 20 to 30 km/hr Small (1 meter square) to Flying dust at high speed. Health hazard and
devil minutes large (5 meter square) traffic hazard
Dust 20 10 to 30 km/hr 20 square kilometres to 2000 Slowly drifting dust for long periods of time.
storm minutes to square kilometres Health hazard and traffic hazard. Low visibility
3 days and No flying
Sand 10 15 to 150 km/hr 5 square kilometres to 2000 High speed dust flow with very low visibility
storm minutes to square kilometres Serious health hazard and traffic hazard. Low
45 visibility and No flying.
minutes

139
Table 4.34 Living pulses of the earth – Glaciers (ice rivers)

Types of Time Velocity Size , Material Result

breathes period involved
and
shakes
Glacier Geological Few centimetres per Ice, snow, Maintenance of rivers, lakes and supply of cool water to the
climatic year rock debris, ocean. The rapid melting of ice sheets are causing flooding
change soil and drop of ocean temperature, which can result in dry
climates globally.

140
Table 4.35 Living pulses of the earth – Sea and Ocean Waves

Types of Time Velocity Size , Material involved Result

breathes period
and
shakes
Gentle 99.8 4 to 6 km/hr 10 to 50 square meters – Gentle sea and enjoyable beach
waves percent of water and light organic
the time debris
High 0.18 10 to 15 km/hr 100 to 200 square meters – Rough sea and dangerous to be in the beach
percent of water and light to heavy
the time organic and inorganic debris
– can shake a canoe
violently
Streaming 0.02 Above 20 km/ hr 500 to 1000 square meters – Dangerous to be at the beach, can drag a human being on the
percent of water and heavy organic and splash and take out to sea.
the time inorganic debris can throw a
mechanised boat

141
Table 4.36 Living pulses of the earth – OCEANIC CIRCULATION AND DEEP SEA CURRENT

Types of Time period Velocity Size , Material Result

breathes involved
and
shakes
Tides Diurnal and 1cm/ minute Millions of cubic Coastal areas are washed and cleaned
Seasonal kilometres, sea water,
plankton and fish
Surface Seasonal 5cm/ minute Millions of cubic Coastal areas are made more wet or dry
currents kilometres, sea water,
plankton and fish
Deep Continuous 1 cm /day Billions of cubic Earth‟s air conditioner, cool the tropics and warm the
sea kilometres, sea water temperate areas
current and chemical deposits

142
Chapter 5

Modelling disaster

Disaster management depends on modelling for testing safety,

response and recovery systems. Hazard management provide
the system of understanding of control and manage hazards. But
disaster management has to be ahead of hazard management as
it has to incorporate the response to a destruction arising from a
hazard. Then disaster and risk of disaster has to consider the
hazard, effect of hazard on people through time and space and
the varying degrees of vulnerability to the hazard event
(Wisener et al, 2004).

Risk is an expected damage and vulnerability is potential for

exposure to damage. For example living at Peradeniya slump
site was a risk, but people living in and around it refused to
believe it is a risk. However after strengthening the soil cutting
people who occupied the area thought that they have nothing to
fear. This is to think that they are not vulnerable, but they forgot
that science cannot be cheated and they were vulnerable. Once
the disaster occurred there was physical and psychological
destruction and some of the social relations were useless and
others were lost and they have to now depend on external
resources for recovery.
Two models based on PAR and ACCESS type of models
(Wisner et al, 2004) are presented here.

PAR model is based on the vulnerability and hazard compresses

society and the level of impact of the disaster is decided by the
intensity of the hazard and vulnerability of society to the
hazards which it was subjected to. To reduce the impact of the
disaster the vulnerability has to be reduced. In this model three
systems indicate the growth of vulnerability. They are root
causes, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions.
Under root causes
1. limited access to power, structures and resources
2. political systems and economic systems ideologies are
given.

Dynamic pressures are identified as lack of required facilities

and macro-forces. Under lack of required facilities,
1. local institutions
2. training 143
 3. appropriate skills
4. local investments
5. local markets
6. press freedom
7. ethical standards in public life are given.

Under macro-forms
1. rapid population change
2. urbanisation
3. arms expenditure
4. debt repayment schedules
5. deforestation
6. decline in soil fertility are given.

The unsafe conditions formed by these two factors are listed

under
Physical environment, local economy, social relations, public
actions and institutions

Under physical environment

1. dangerous locations
2. unprotected buildings and infrastructure are given.

Under local economy

1. livelihoods at risk
2. low income level are given

Under social relations

1. special groups at risk

2. lack of local institutions are given

Under public actions and institutions

1. lack of disaster preparedness

2. prevalence of endemic diseases are given

When disaster occur the risk of disaster is given as

RISK= Hazard x Vulnerability

144
Hazards are identified under all the sectors of natural and man
induced categories with the inclusion of disease as a category.
Virus and pests are considered an important category (Figure
5.1).

Figure 5.1 PAR (Generalised)

GEO POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

DYNAMIC PRESSURES

UNSAFE CONDITIONS

RISK

HAZARD

The width of arrow indicates the pressure on vulnerability in the

developing countries where the geopolitical environment is
constantly harassed by unethical standards in public life.

ACCESS model is built on an expanded analysis of PAR with

inquiring into the economic, social and political processes
behind vulnerability and risk. Within this model hazard
sometime intensify vulnerability and reduce power to recover
from disaster. Therefore the ACCESS model can also be called
the Environmental Model of Disaster Management and closely
associated with PODS.

The ACCESS model investigates the primary or surface cause,

secondary or underlying cause and tertiary or hidden cause of

145
disaster and has the capability to explain an event in much more
detail than in a direct systems analysis. This is because most of
the disasters are not natural in occurrence, as most of the
disastrous happenings of the present day world occur because
people have selected to live they way they live and forget
scientific base of disaster.
For example in Rathnapura Floods of 2003
Flood was expected, but not listened to scientific advice and
land on the river bank was utilised without proper safety
system, people never thought that the river has its natural cycle
of major floods, drainage was not considered important etc.

However these models have failed to explain the role played by

political and social institutions in the developed world in not
controlling their undue financial influence on the developing
which lead to most of these unethical standards among political
and administrative elite in the developing world. In addition
models so not account for allowing the development authorities
to use funding from the developed countries on unscientific land
use, which accelerates the strength of disaster.

The ACCESS model can be utilised well for all the detailed
studies on impact on households, specially in developing
countries.

Access model

Begins from the secure system of social structure and social

relations where normal life is available with social protection in
place.

Unsafe conditions can form within this secure system due to

influence from lack of readiness to disaster

Specific hazard with its spatio-temporality triggers the disaster

and penetrates the protected society

This will begin the first round of impacts on normal life, leading
to coping, adaptation and interventions

The experiences will take the society to the next disaster with
actions of disaster reduction, which will feed the unsafe

146
conditions with scientific information and raise the level of
social protection

Evaluating the factors in the model

The factors in the model are taken out for a basic valuation for
the primary disaster management. The values 1,2 and 3 are
given for each stage of assessment.

Score 1= weak and high risk

Score 2 = fair and risky
Score 3 = good and low risk

Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3

Limited access to
Power 1
Structures 1
Resources 1

Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3

Ideologies
Political Systems 1
Economic Systems 1

Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3

Lack of following
local institutions 1
training 1
appropriate skills 1
local investments 1
local markets 1
press freedom 2
ethical standards in 1
public life

147
Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3
Macro forces
rapid population 2
change
urbanisation 1
arms expenditure 1
debt repayment 1
schedules
deforestation 1
Decline in soil 1
productivity

Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3

Physical
environment
dangerous 1
locations
unprotected 1
buildings and
infrastructure are
given

Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3

Local economy
livelihoods at risk 1
low income level 1
are given

Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3

Social relations
special groups at 1
risk
lack of local 1
institutions

148
Factor Score = 1 Score = 2 Score = 3
Public actions
and institutions
Lack of disaster 1
preparedness
Prevalence of 1
endemic diseases
are given

Evaluation – add all the scores and check with the following
chart for the level of risk and vulnerability.

Sri Lanka‟s score is 24 and referring to the risk chart for

developing nations show that Sri Lankan‟s lives are at the level
of very high risk in terms of disasters of natural and societal
nature.

Risk Chart

Score Level of risk/vulnerability

Over 75 Very low risk (death possible 10
percent of the time)
65 – 74 Low risk (death possible 20
percent of the time)
50 – 64 Moderate risk (death possible 30
percent of the time)
40 -49 High risk (death possible 40
percent of the time)
30 -39 Very high risk (death possible 50
percent of the time)
20 -29 Very serious risk (death possible
75 percent of the time)
Below 20 Deadly (death is possible at any
time)

Scores for Sri Lankan situation –some examples-

Activity Score
Corruption 30 -39
Traffic accidents Below 20
War 20-29
Natural disasters 30-39

149
ACCESS model provides access to capabilities, assets and
livelihood opportunities to reduce vulnerability and avoid
disasters. For this purpose the disaster should be watched from
the following stages of observation.
1. identification of trigger event
2. vulnerability generated form the event
3. impact unfolding
4. role and agency of society involved
5. occurrence of impacts
6. coping system
7. developing recovery strategies
8. interaction with security services, owners of assets,
local, regional, national and international agents.

This system of observation involves the use of sustainable

livelihoods (Chambers and Conway, 1992; Drinkwater and
McEwan, 1994; Leach et al, 1997, Moser, 1998, Scoones, 1998:
Carney, 1998; Bellington, 1999: Haghebaert, 2001) and
capabilities approaches (Sen, 1981 and 1999) to disaster
management. The first publication of RISK by Blaikie (1977)
and Blaikie (1985b) have also noted a similar approach.
This indicates that the complex relationship of disaster in the
developing countries can be well accommodated in the
ACCESS model and PODS presented in this book is derived
from that experience.
Disaster has many relationships to its environment and the
status of environmental management in operation in the locality
of disaster. This is because, disaster is connected to space, time,
literacy, beliefs, ethics and sometimes factors like gender,
ethnicity and personnel behaviour.

Table 5/.1/ 1 to 5/1/8 Examples of relationships – (not all

possible are given, only the most important are stated)

150
Table 5/1/1

Factor Trigger Disaster

Space 1 Plate tectonics Earthquakes
Volcanic eruptions
Subsidence
Tsunami
Landslides
Space 2 High intensity rainfall Landslides
Flash floods
Lightning
Road cutting
Overloading

Table 5/1/2

Factor Trigger Disaster

Time Climatic Flash floods
change Landslides
Crop failures
Pest invasions
Diseases
Traffic accidents
War
Conflict
Anti-social behaviour
Loss of Ethics

Table 5/1/3
Factor Trigger Disaster
Literacy Non Loss Environmental control
establishment leading to flash floods,
of rule of law landslides, loss of water
resources and drought
Traffic accidents
War
Conflict
Anti-social behaviour
Loss of Ethics
Economic failures

151
Table 5/1/4/

Factor Trigger Disaster

Beliefs Non-utilisation of Loss Environmental control
scientific systems leading to flash floods,
landslides, loss of water
resources and drought
Traffic accidents
War
Conflict
Anti-social behaviour
Loss of Ethics

Table 5/1/5

Factor Trigger Disaster

Ethics Unethical actions Loss Environmental control
leading to flash floods,
landslides, loss of water
resources and drought
Extremism

Table 5/1/6

Factor Trigger Disaster

Gender Unethical Loss Environmental
actions control leading to
flash floods,
landslides, loss of
water resources and
drought
Suffering of women

152
Table 5.1.7

Factor Trigger Disaster

Ethnicity Unethical actions Loss Environmental
control leading to flash
floods, landslides, loss of
water resources and
drought
Extremism
Conflict
war

Table 5/1/8

Factor Trigger Disaster

Personnel Unethical actions Loss Environmental
behaviour control leading to flash
floods, landslides, loss of
water resources and
drought
Extremism
Conflict
Riot
War
Drug addiction
Sexual molestation, rape,
serial killings

The relationship between factor, trigger and disaster in the

above tables is more applicable to developing world situations
where environmental planning is at a low utilisation level.
Therefore impact of disaster and recovery is much slower in
them than in the developed countries. The figures 5/1/1 and
5/1/2 show the progression of the land system and societal
system components in relation to disaster since 1900.

153
 Figure5/2/1 Graphical representation of loss of balance and disaster damage in developing countries (six
selected land system set)

4 RAINFALL
DROUGHT
FLOOD
3
PEOPLE
LITERACY
2 DISASTER DAMAGE

0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2010

154
Figure 5/2/ 2 Graphical representation of loss of balance and disaster damage in developing countries
(six selected social system set)
7

5 PEOPLE
ETHICS
4 CONFLICT
ETHNICITY
3 LITERACY
BELIEFS
2 DISASTER DAMAGE

0
1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2010

155
Figures 5/2/1 and 5/2/2 is based on generalised data from
many developing countries, based on the authors experiences in
many African and Asian countries including Sri Lanka between
1977 and 2003. Figure 5/1/1 indicate that there is no
relationship between literacy and disaster in land system set as
expected in these countries, which may be due to loss of ethics
and rising of conflict in them. Serious loss of ethics and
degradation of local belief systems are the two major factors
responsible for this decay, which is suspected to have originated
from the colonial mentality of the leadership of post
independence period in these countries.
The utilisastion of the concepts of sustainable livelihoods and
capabilities approach are also hindered by the same type of
mentalities where locally generated knowledge is still rejected
by many attempts in disaster management. Then the use of
ACCESS model as in developed countries is urgently required
in the developing countries.

Kalu, Gin and NIlwala floods of 2003, floods and landslides of

the 2006 October-November season which are responsible for a
minimum damage of about 100 billion Rupees (media
publication total) Rathnapura floods of 2003) further
strengthens the concept that literacy has not managed to reduce
vulnerability and avoid disaster as in the ACCESS model due to
low level of use of scientific understanding in disaster control.
a close inspection of the sites affected with the Field Class of
the course Environmental Hazards, 2006 revealed that more
than 80 percent of the casualties and damages occurred due to
lack of proper scientific understanding on the environment by
planning or construction authorities (non utilisation of PAR or
ACCESS models).
Future looks bleak without proper modelling in Sri Lanka
therefore it is high time the ACCESS model and PODS are
utilised in any future disaster management system.

156
What to do for people without disaster warning

Cause of Signs to watch Activity recommended

disaster
Landslide Heavy rain Watch for extremely
muddy water in the streams
Heavy rain continue If murkiness (mixing of
mud) increases and water
turns dark then watch out
for some noises like
thunder in the higher slope
Slopes are all Carefully go to the higher
oozing out with slopes to investigate the
water level of saturation
If there are loose Leave the path immediately
soil and rock on the
slope
Hear massive Get out of the valley and
thunder like noise run towards the high
look out towards the ground and wait until
higher slopes someone confirms all OK

Training required for this type of work can be provided to

volunteers at Rajarata University if they contact the Author
through the Vice Chancellor.

157
Flood

Cause of disaster Signs to watch Activity

recommended
Flood Heavy rain Watch for the pattern
of water flow in the
low lying areas.
Media reports on Watch for the river
rain in up river overflowing
Flood confirms Get out of the low
lying areas early
If living by the Watch for bank
bank collapse constantly
If living on land Watch for water flow
fill
leaving Take all women and
children to high
ground when water
level reaches 2ft or 60
centimetres.
Do not trust any Do not attempt to
flowing flood cross without help
water more than
70 centimetres. Or
2 and half feet
deep.

Training required for this type of work can be provided to

volunteers at Rajarata University if they contact the Author
through the Vice Chancellor.

158
 Cause of Signs to watch Activity recommended
disaster
Traffic Stopped on road and Advice the people to
accidents talking/buying/repairing/ get out of the road, but
most of the time they
will abuse you, as this
type of drivers are
illiterate – it has
happened to the author
about 100 times in his
life time in Sri Lanka
as the author has to
collect data on
response, if the
vehicles belong to any
security service do not
interfere, because they
can molest you.
Speeding bus Advice driver, but be
ready to be abused by
the driver/ conductor.
Some passengers as
most of these people
are illiterate and
speeding buses are not
checked properly by
the police as there is
some connection
between Police and
Buses.
Errand motor Advice driver, but be
bicycle/three ready to be abused by
wheeler/bicycle the driver/ conductor.
Some passengers as
most of these people
are illiterate

Training required for this type of work cannot be provided to

volunteers at Rajarata University, because in this respect we

159
have to deal with illiterate and elitist organisation which can
harm you and your family. Political corruption is also a serious
threat to operation of road traffic law in Sri Lanka.

The activities which can be prepared for the three primary

disaster generating triggers were listed above and any additional
information is available in the Department of Social Sciences/
Environmental management, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.

160
Chapter 6

Business of Disaster Management

Disaster management in business began with the introduction of

safety laws in industry and commerce. Later in the twentieth
century environmental protection legislation was also included
in this category of enactments. The international and national
enactments on safety can be obtained from international
organisations like UN, ILO, EU, NAFTA, WTO and many
other agencies responsible for safety in business. The best
internet site is UN and ILO. National safety enactments are
available from ministries of Labour and Environment. This
chapter aims to present the procedures of disaster management
in relation to business in general and the operational systems of
disaster management with special reference to a developing
country like Sri Lanka.

The identification and research into disasters in business is

almost similar to that of environmental disasters as the business
environment is part of the built environment. Therefore chapters
1 to 4 in this book apply to business disaster management
systems and the information base required for each type of
business has to be extracted from them. The theory of new
environmental management and modern disaster management is
applicable to business as global, national and local businesses
operate within the accepted norms, legislations and ethics of
society.

It is stated in chapter 4 that disaster management in developing

countries is at its infancy due to many scientific and societal
reasons. The following stories, which are based on author‟s
personal experiences in working with various types of
businesses, will provide an insight to the reader with necessary
facts about disaster management in business in the developed
world and developing world.

Story 1
Country – Norway – 2000
Business – Super Market Chain

161
Super markets are the most visited commercial establishments
in the developed world and they have to be ready to open at 7 or
8 am and close at 9 pm. They have to be stocked after closing
and cleaned before opening. Therefore a team of part time
workers enter the shop in the morning at 4.30 am to clean with
their own keys which are attached to a code numbered lock. At
this time the streets are deserted and these workers work alone
until about 6.30 when the floor manager arrives for primary
checks on cleaning, stock and receive daily supply of
perishables.

The cleaners work alone in the shop for about 2 to two and a
half hours guarded by video control anti-burglary devices. The
worker is insured against any danger within the working hours
and police will arrive within five minutes of the ringing of the
alarm manually or if it is activated automatically by an
attempting forced entry. The same alarm system will collect
information on the worker behaviour through a set of open and
hidden video cameras.

Before I began my work I was informed by my employer that

the manager is moody and not very friendly. On the fifth day at
work I came across an open drawer with cash resting on a
cashier‟s table and when reported it to the manager he thanked
me and no further discussions were held on the matter. When I
casually mentioned this incident to my employer he commented
“that was a test that manager does to check you out”. About a
month into my employment manager slowly became friendly
and we had many discussions on the purpose of my stay in
Norway and my family. The he began to inform me about the
losses incurred due to shop lifting by customers and cleaners
and commented “I like you to work with me as long as you are
going to be here”. According to manager the store looses about
4 to 5 percent of its income through shop lifting and all type of
people from staff, delivery people, customers and cleaners have
been caught in camera. Before the introduction of the camera
system the losses were in the range of 10 to 15 percent and the
installation of an additional security system at accost of about
500,000 US Dollars in mid 2000, when I was working there
saved another 3 percent by the end of the year. The total income
of the shop which was the city centre unit was in the range of 5
to 10 million US Dollars a year.

162
My security advice was issued on the first day at work. They
were
1. do not touch any material on the shelf at any time. If by
accident any item is disturbed put it back where it was
or leave on the counter.
2. check you bag for any prohibited matter any unopened
purchases are prohibited to carry into the shop in the
morning.
3. if there is an attempt of forced entry noted, call 113
emergency services.
4. do not allow any of your visitors to accompany you to
work without prior permission from manager.
5. when you leave you have to leave from the workers
door
6. between 4.30 am and 7 am you are fully insured to be
inside the shop.
7. then the manager showed me where the emergency
doors, fire doors, emergency telephones, fire safe (if
suddenly fire blocks the doors, this is the place to enter
and wait for you to be rescued by firemen)
8. I was warned of the ice at the door step during winter.
9. finally I was warned of stiff penalties for shop lifting.

During my stay at work in the establishment as a part time

worker for about 2 years, auto alarm was sounded three
times and police arrived within five minutes. Once police
arrived with the manager to check the status of the of the
security system. Twice some strangers made an attempt to
communicate with me through the main door, which was
refused. No loss of material was reported during the period
of my work, though about 3 staff of the shop was dismissed
for shop lifting.
Twice during the work period my employer had to transport
me to work as there was deep snow on ground. I was
commended at the end of my stay at work with them and
was asked to come and work for them when ever I am in
Norway.

163
Table 6.1 relationship between advice and disaster

Security Probable disaster

advice number
1 Caught in camera and suspected of shop
lifting
2 suspected of shop lifting – societal disaster, I
may be deported ( about people were
deported or ordered to leave without
extension to visa in 200 for shop lifting)
3 You cannot control the situation and wasting
time may lead to loss of your life –most
dangerous societal disaster
4 You may be implicated in an error
committed by your companion
5 Your insurance was on that route only – no
compensation if something happens to you if
you leave by any other door -disaster
6 Free mind to work, no worry of disaster
7 Most important in case of disaster
8 Most dangerous natural hazard and falling on
ice can be deadly – natural disaster
9 Most important personal information

Country Sri Lanka – 2005

Private Software Company (International)

Instructions very similar to that was issued to the author in
Norway are in practice.

Country – Sri Lanka -2005

Private Software Company (local)
No specific disaster scenario instructions are issued, some
security risks are given as information

Country Sri Lanka – public Services

No specific disaster scenario instructions are issued, some
security risks are given as information

164
 Country - Sri Lanka 2005-2006, Mihinthale

Following hazards were encountered during the period, some of

which have reached the level of health disaster. These were
notified to the authorities, but no action was taken.

1. Storage of mattresses with chemical smell near living area which

led to three residents seeking medical attention. Case was
reported to the authorities and it took the about 4 days to
remove and the occupants had to endure chemical smell for that
duration. Then again freshly painted steel cupboards with paint
smell were stored in the same area and it took another complaint
and about three days to remove. The storage of tyres and
furniture is still around with many smells reaching the living
area.

2. Leakage of water from a waste water pipe not attended since

reported about a year ago – bad smell and a health hazard

3. Water supplied has many types of sediments –chlorides/silt/clay

and cannot drink – common hazard leading to the disaster of
Renal failure in North central Province.

4. Most of the safety lights are not working for the last about six
months and 1 big snake, two vipers and a snake skin was found
within the living area.

The situation at Mihinthale site is disaster prone due to low

literacy and poor planning respectively. The storage problem is
a result of low environment literacy and others are due to poor
planning. The occupant of the area has to be extremely vigilant
all the time and his free movement is restricted due to these
hazardous situations.

The system of disaster preparedness in business Sri Lanka are

not at acceptable level of operation due to non-adherence to
legislation, which is not properly governed by the public
authorities. However, multi-nationals working in Sri Lanka
have some concerns of disaster preparedness.

165
Between 2002 and 2005 average annual loss of life due to lack
of safety in business operations is estimated at about 310,
without taking into account the fatal accidents caused by drivers
in business. About 94 percent of the fatal traffic accidents are
caused by commercial vehicles, where there is no driver code. A
survey conducted on the convicted drivers indicate that 78
percent of the returned to work immediately after the payment
of fine without any retraining by the employer or the company.
A van driven by a driver of a reputed private company who has
been driving about 11 hours continuously crashed into author‟s
car. The cause of the accident was sleeping on the wheel.

Fires related to commercial and industrial businesses have killed

about 34 people in the last year and about 30 of these people
were killed because of lack of disaster preparation by the
employer. Most common cause of ire was electrical short circuit
or gas explosion and most of these establishments had no proper
safety measures in place before the disaster. The total property
damage estimated using news paper reports and television
reports amount to about 20 to 30 billion rupees. The global
annual deaths resulting from business related disasters is about
250,000 (not including traffic accidents) and damages from
business disasters (including insurance payments) is about 2
billion US Dollars. It is noted that there is a sharp decline of
business related disasters in the developed world and a sharp
rise in the developing world. This sharp rise in the developing
world results from the use of old machinery, poor safety
systems in operation and environment illiteracy. For example
though the general literacy rate in Sri Lanka is about 92 percent
(2005), a survey conducted in seven provinces, which are not
affected by conflict indicate that the environment literacy is well
below 25 percent.

System disasters in business

System disasters in business study the financial, personal and

service type disasters. In here the managers must understand
their role in a rapidly changing world. The concept of
environmental change is applicable here as business operates
within the living environment of human beings. In some
situations they are in changes created by the outside forces and

166
another time the manager‟s job is to promote change and create
progress. Therefore in modern business management should
utilise adjustment or creation or both to succeed.

Change is inevitable phenomena of management and the new

managers should understand the complexity and inescapability
of change if they are to be successful in their respective
ventures.
System disasters in business can be avoided only through the
understanding of these changes in modern and post-modern
business. Firstly changes in knowledge, information and
techniques have to be understood by the manager. Behavioural
sciences have a great influence on management today and
cooperation and control should be combined in the new
management process. However, machines have also advanced
and their role has to be understood well by the modern manager.
This indicates the value of scientific thinking which will only
reveal the intricate relationship of business and customer, where
business rests. For example most of the financial disasters are
activated by the breakdown of the relationship between
customer and business. The present failure of public transport
system in Sri Lanka is a result of lack of properly qualified
managers and competitiveness in the work force. Likewise
almost all the public services suffer from a lack of scientific
management approach in them and undue interferences from
elitist and political authorities. The private public transport
system is also not profitable as it is expected to be because of
exploitation of the customer, which lead to loss of income
through seeking alternative systems of transport. Further, not
understanding the scientific system of public transport due to
low literacy of the operators contributes to its low profitability.
This is result of non-utilisation of knowledge, information and
techniques as given in the modern management systems.

Secondly, scope of management is also changing rapidly as

managers are specialising in their fields and talking to people
who were considered not important in the past. For example
women, retired with experience and young enthusiasts are all
considered as manager in the new management thinking.
Disaster study is given to scientists in the universities and
disaster managers are selected from the military. Hurricane

167
Katrina taught USA that in disaster beyond state level should be
handled by a military personal with field command experience.
Former meteorology head who was sacked earlier for predicting
on tsunamis damage on Thai coast was reinstated to look after
Thailand‟s Tsunami warning system. Former FEMA (USA)
director resigned after his failures at the handling of hurricane
Katrina. However, the use of older experienced, young
enthusiast and women has to be carried out with caution in the
developing countries. Many women who were given responsible
positions in Sri Lanka have become corrupt and some are hiding
abroad. Older and experienced or young enthusiasts hired in Sri
Lanka for some responsible posts have not performed as
expected due to either political pressure or lack of
understanding of concept of change which is new to them.
Some of the media stories on their performances indicate the
presence of inert corruption.

Thirdly, the change in population, culture and market has to be

understood if a business to avert financial disaster. The age old
tradition of faithful customer and market size are not going to be
stable factors in future businesses. Further environmental
pollution and environmental management are going to be
critical factors for business in this millennium. Business has to
adjust to face the changing physical, cultural and organisational
frame work if it is survive competition in the millennium.

Disaster plan for business

There cannot be a single prophetical disaster plan for business

as business ids the most varied system of operation in the world.
The nature of business varies from Multi-national, Trans-
national, regional and local to Mafioso. systems of operation.
All the multi-nationals, trans-nationals and Mafioso businesses
have properly made disaster plans for their businesses. The most
vulnerable are the regional operators and local trader. In Sri L
there average of about 20 regional operators are stepped down
or declared bankrupt in a year and about 2300 local businesses
go out of circulation. Within a given year about 10 regional
businesses and 1450 local businesses are newly registered.
These middle and local level businesses have no disaster plan
other than depending on family or friendly support they can
gather in case of financial, technical or human resource
emergency. However, there is an emerging scenario of re-
leasing systems in Sri Lanka which is at its infancy.

168
The best disaster plan for businesses of regional or local level is
to use of a plan of prevention with reference to financial,
technical and human resources.

The effect of natural disasters is also having a considerable

impact on business in Sri Lanka. The total damage caused to
business in Sri Lanka by south Asian Mega Tsunami is
estimated at about 6 billion rupees. Loss of income over the
next five years was estimated at 250 billion rupees. The effect
of 2003 floods was estimated at about 6 billion rupees and the
2006 floods and slides have caused about 13 billion rupee
damage to businesses. The damage to businesses from natural
disasters are on the increase in Sri Lanka is mainly due to their
indifference to scientific advice on site and drainage.
(Use details from the discussion on risk in Chapter 4)

169
Chapter 7

Summary and Conclusions

Disaster management is an essential requirement of any society

today because loss of life cannot be replaced, valued and there
is no answer to trauma of loss. Further as science and
technology has become a part of our daily lives there is a
possibility to utilise knowledge to minimise damage and loss
from disaster. For example Malaysia managed to reduce its
Tsunamis damage by about 80 percent by utilising the best
possible wave breakers in the holiday beaches. Further most of
the properly built hotel structures and hotels with a good
security system were able to save most of the lives. The
accurate warnings on hurricane Katrina saved about 10,000
lives as most of the knowledgeable people of the heavily
damaged area have willingly evacuated on the first advice given
by the authorities. This is because the damage level of the
modern disaster is closely related to the ability to evaluate the
warnings given by the disaster management authorities and
facilities provided for evacuation.
Inability to give warnings is considered foolish in disaster
management today as there are many prediction systems which
can provide a fairly accurate warning on most of the serious
hazards faced by humans except for earthquakes, though their
reliability may vary from place to place and time to time.

At the end of this book the first call made to the public
authorities in 1998 and 2003 is made again “We in Sri Lanka
have to suffer heavy economic damage amounting to about 30
billion rupees to bring back the areas to operational level and
according to popular news, it may take about one third of our
budgetary allocations this year to fully rehabilitate the damage
over a period of five years.

Will we be able to sustain this programme in case of continuing

natural disasters? The answer is no. We have to follow the
scientific evidences and be ready for the future.

170
All the developed countries have mega plans to face the
impending natural disasters. They have food, medical supplies
and service stocks in hand with disaster prediction, control and
management organizations.

Please begin a long-term restructuring of environment in the

hazardous zones.

The technology and expertise required for a fairly reliable

prediction is available in Sri Lanka, specially in the university
departments on which the management authority can rely on for
prediction and spatio–temporality of disaster. Low cost
scientific monitoring and recording systems are available in
disaster study systems of the world. However, the missing link
in the developing countries is will to utilise the scientific system
of disaster management in the prediction and the identification
of spatio-temporality. This type of failures is associated with
governance and planning in the developing countries which
must change if impact of disaster is to be reduced in the
developing world.
The developing world situation can be generally applied to Sri
Lanka, where scientific environmental planning is yet to be
fully established and disaster management is developed as a
scientific project.

Recommendations

There is no need for a detailed list of recommendations as many

times in the past many scientists and project reports on disaster
management have produced many sets of comprehensive list of
recommendations. However, the effect of flooding, landslides
and unsafe roads have not reduced to an acceptable minimum.
This is mainly due to low scientific knowledge of the impending
disasters and socio-political corruption which has not installed
any environmental management plan for the country. The call
made in 2003 is made again

“Please begin a long-term restructuring of environment in

the hazardous zones”.

171
In this process

Apply PODS in Sri Lanka and

1. Construct a detailed environmental management plan for the

nation
2. Involve university researches and departments as regional
offices of disaster management
3. Employ environmental management students qualifying from
Sri Lankan universities in their respective home areas as disaster
observation officers.
4. These will form the backbone of future disaster managers,
who will have a better understanding on local situations.
5. Reduce socio-political corruption to a level which will not
affect environmental management planning.

Note to humanity

Disaster cannot be stopped and it can only be controlled.

Disaster management based on modern environmental
management is the only way to reduce risk from disaster and
disaster control. The value of this approach is confirmed by the
status of disaster control in developed countries, where impact
of disaster is reduced to a possible minimum. For example,
disaster control in developed countries has managed to reduce
the impact of disaster by about 60 to 70 percent of the expected
loss in the last 5 to 10 years. The impact of disaster in
developing countries is rising at an alarming rate of about 10 to
20 percent each year and the impact reduction in them is only
capable of reducing loss by about 5 to 10 percent. Non-
utilisation of environmental planning, non-adherence to
scientific knowledge and political and bureaucratic corruption
are constantly given as major reasons for heavy loss in disasters
in the developing countries. Therefore the able in the
developing countries have to resort to private enterprise for help
through insurance and investment, but the poor suffers heavily
during and aftermath of disaster. However, information on
disaster situations can be obtained from universities on request
and listening to media where university academics write on
future of disaster.
172
The Department of Social Sciences / Environmental
Management, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, has a hazard
warning System in place operated by the author. All interested
are advised to contact for general and specific threats of disaster
in relation to natural and societal hazards in Sri Lanka. Advice
on risk, disaster probability and disaster control in relation to
land evaluation and constructions of all types can be obtained
on request from the author.

173
Appendix A Human Disasters

Fire: Any fire occurring in vegetation areas, regardless of

ignition sources, damages or benefits.

Death/poor health/general sickness: over and beyond

expectation and directly due to a particular external
cause of causes.
Contamination of food products or water or the
environment that result in deaths or injuries.
War/conflict/terrorism. Armed conflict is defined as a
political conflict in which armed combat involves the
armed forces of at least one state (or one or more armed
factions seeking to gain control of all or part of the
state), and in which at least 1,000 people have been
killed by the fighting during the course of the conflict.
Workplace violence where the cause of the injuries
and/or deaths is directly linked to the working
environment of those affected.

Technical Disasters
Danger originating from technological or industrial accidents,
dangerous procedures, infrastructure failures or certain human
activities, which may cause loss of life or injury, property
damage, social and economic disruption or environmental
degradation.
Technical disasters include:

Power cuts and communication failure.

Explosions involving domestic, industrial and non-
industrial buildings or structures.
Oil spills and chemical spills. An accidental release
occurring during the production, transportation or
handling of disastrous chemical substances.
Nuclear-reactor failures, chemical mishaps.
174
 Breakdown of computer networks.
Gas leaks.

Poisoning of atmosphere or water courses due to

industrial sources.
Cooling/heating/ventilation system failure.

According to ISDR, technical disasters can be classified in three

groups: industrial accidents, transport accidents and
miscellaneous accidents.
Industrial accidents include chemical spills, collapses of
industrial infrastructures, explosions, fires, gas leaks, poisoning
and radiation.
Transport accidents include air, rail, road and water transport.
Miscellaneous accidents include the collapse of domestic and
non-industrial structures, explosions and fires.

175
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http://www.irinnews.org

If you need any disaster assessment

Write to or call

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179