The recent seismic activity in the Indian Ocean and Monday’s earthquake/tsunami that affected Japan, South Korea, and Russia act as reminders for Sri Lanka on the need to build up disaster warning, resilience, and recovery capacity domestically. The magnitude 7.6 earthquake which hit Japan on early Monday (1) morning, triggering a tsunami warning, has claimed the lives of around 50 people in Noto peninsula of Japan. Despite Japan having a well-designed and robust emergency warning, mitigation, and response system, which is well resourced and has a history of proven efficiency, the natural disaster has cost lives.

Nearly twenty years after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami which devastated Sri Lanka, and a string of natural disasters later, our domestic mechanism for early warning, mitigation, and response has made little progress, given that climate change is pushing. Recently, it was reported that a significant number of tsunami warning tower systems which were erected post 2004, are not operational. Critics have blamed successive governments for having a lacklustre attitude towards disaster preparedness, and not crafting a well-resourced, effective system for tsunami warning. Responsible authorities have pointed out a lack of funding as a core reason for the faulty warning system. The Head of the Disaster Management Centre told The Daily Morning that the Government has introduced a modern, more effective warning system which can be used in every region of Sri Lanka to supplement the coastal warning tower system, which was only implemented in a limited area.

Such attempts are commendable, and the new system which works via telecommunication service providers, to ring individual mobiles phones, possibly with a pre recorded warning, will be a welcomed improvement for the national disaster warning mechanism.  The early warning system was launched in December 2023 in a collaborative effort involving the Disaster Management Centre, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRCSL) and major telephone service providers including Sri Lanka Telecom-Mobitel, Hutch, Dialog and Airtel. According to the DMC, the new system will fortify the existing mechanism, by issuing warnings of citizens in the event of pending or ongoing disasters, the system leverages technology to deliver more effective early warnings through telephone communication networks. Specifically focusing on tsunami disasters, the system targets nearly 60,000 mobile and landline numbers in 14 districts identified as high-risk areas. It is designed to promptly alert the public, utilising phone notifications featuring a siren sound, which has been deemed as particularly effective during night time hours. The use of technology to bridge the gap between state institutions and the citizenry, especially about disaster-related information, is a step in the right direction. Tsunami warning and preparedness, especially in the coastal areas should be a priority for the Government, given that a majority of Sri Lanka’s export industries and tourist hotspots are found in the coastal belt. With the island nation pinning hopes on a boost from tourism to revive a fallen economy, state institutions and the tourism industry should also be stakeholders in building awareness, ensuring a robust warning and evaluation system is in place.

Nevertheless, Sri Lanka’s overall disaster planning and preparedness remains lagging behind that of other South Asian countries. The Government has got comfortable in scrambling the armed forces to respond en masse to deal with annual flood and landslide responses. While the use of armed forces manpower and equipment is important, Sri Lanka lags behind in crafting a complete government approach to disaster preparedness, resilience and response. There is much to be done in terms of Sri Lanka plans and expanding its urbanisation, for disaster risk reduction. State authorities need to update legislation and build a robust regulatory system to “build in disaster risk reduction and mitigation measures” into urban housing, industry and connectivity infrastructure such as roads, railways, storm water drainage and city sewage management. 

Building public awareness on disaster preparedness and mitigation, needs to begin at an early age, with such matters and national systems being taught in schools. Many countries have purpose-designed state agencies for disaster management and response. While the armed forces can also be the reserve, perhaps the Government should consider re-purposing the now “task-less” Civil Security Department, to meet the task, like it has been done with the Civil Defence Force (CDF) of Singapore.