Country Presentation – Sri Lanka

Dinesh Hemachandra
Scientist /Geologist
National Building Research Organisation
Ministry of Disaster Management
Sri Lanka
Visiting Researcher 2010 – ADRC, Kobe

Geographical and Historical Background of Sri Lanka
Government of Sri Lanka
Climate conditions
Natural Disasters and Mitigation of Landslide hazard
Disaster Management in Sri Lanka
My Institute –National Building Research Organisation
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR )activities

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Formerly known as Ceylon)

Geographical situation

Geographical Coordinate
Longitude 79° 42. to 81° 52 east
Latitude 5° 55. to 9° 50. north,
The maximum north- south length of(formerly known the island is 435 km and its greatest width is 225 km
The Island (including adjacent small islands) covers a land area of 65,610 sq. km.
The Bay of Bengal lies to its north and east and the Arabian Sea to its West.
Sri Lanka is separated from India by the gulf of Manna and the Palk Strait

Historical Background – Kings Rural Period
Recent excavations show that even during the Neolithic Age, there were food gatherers
and rice cultivators in Sri Lanka
documented history began with the arrival of the Aryans from North India.
Anuradhapura grew into a powerful kingdom under the rule of king Pandukabhaya.
According to traditional history he is accepted as the founder of Anuradhapura.

The Aryans introduced the use of iron and an advanced form of agriculture andirrigation. They also introduced the art of government
In the mid 2nd century B.C. a large part of north Sri Lanka came under the rule of an invader fromSouth India.
Invasion was intermittent and the capital was moved constantly until the Portuguese
arrived in 1505
Dutch rule lasted from 1656 to 1796,
In 1815 the kingdom of Kandy was ceded to the British and thus they established their rule over
the whole island.
By a process of peaceful, constitutional evolution, Sri Lanka won back her independence in 1948 and is
now a sovereign republic,

Heritage of Sri Lanka
During the reign of King Devanampiya Tissa, a descendent of Pandukabhaya, Buddhism was introducedin 247 B.C. by Arahat Mahinda, the son of Emperor Asoka of India.
As declared by UNESCO, presently there are seven World Heritage Sites in Sri Lanka. These range fromancient cities like Anuradhapura to Sinharaja rainforests

Anuradhaura

Polonnaruwa
Sigiriya

Kandy Daladamaligawa

DambullaSinharaja Forestஇலங்ை

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is headed by
the Executive President

President
Prime Minister
Minister of Disaster Management

Secretary of the Ministery of Disaster
Manahgement

Director General of the Disaster Management
Center (DMC)
Director General of the National Building
Research Organisation (NBRO)

His.Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa
Hon. D.M. Jayarathna
Hon. M. Fowzie
Madam S.M Mohamed
Major Genaral Gamini Hettiarachchi
Mr. W.B.J. FernandoIndependence:
Coastline:
Terrain:

Highest mountain

4 February 1948
1,340km
Mostly low, flat to rolling plain; mountains insouth-central interior

Pidurutalagala, 2,524m

Highest waterfall

Bambarakanda, 263m

National Flower

The Blue Water Lily (Nymphaea stellata).

Literacy rate

Female 87.9 Male 92.5

Ethnic groups - 73.8% Sinhalese/ 13.9% Tamil/ 7.2% Moors 4.6% /Indian Tamil,/.
5% Others.

Languages

Sinhala (official and national language) 74%
Tamil (national language) 18%
other 8%English (a link language commonly) is used ingovernment and spoken competently by about
10% of the population

Religion

Buddhist 69.1%,

Muslim 7.6%

Hindu 7.1%

Christian 6.2%

unspecified 10% (2001 census)

Time zone

Sri Lanka Standard Time is five and ahalf hours ahead of GMT. ( 5.30 hour)

International dialing:+94

Electricity

230 . 240 volts, 50 cycles AC

Life
Expectancy atBirth
74 female,
64 maleDensity798.9 people/sq mi
309 people per sq km
Population growth
1.3%
Sri Lanka’s population of around 2009 estimate 20 million has anurban rural mix of approximately 30% to 70 %

Administratively country is sub divided into nine Provincial councils

25 districts and 327 Divisions.

The climate of Sri Lanka is typically tropical with an averagetemperature of 27°C.
In the higher elevations it can be quite cool withtemperatures going down to 8-16°C at an altitude of nearly
2,000 meters.
Normally-Bright, sunny, warm days.

WEATHER AND CLIMATE IN SRI LANKA

North

South

The south west monsoon -May
to July western(southern and central regions)North-east monsoon–December andJanuary(Northern andeastern regions)

WEATHER AND CLIMATE IN SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka lie on Inter Tropical Convergent Zone (ITCZ) - Map

The climate of the island is mostly governed by the metrological conditions in the Bay of Bengal.
The climate of Sri Lanka can be classified as a tropical monsoonal climate marked by model
seasonal rhythm rainfall of two distinguished monsoons
The annual rainfall in Sri Lanka varies from 900 mm to 6,000 mm and the average annual rainfall is 1836 mm. Wet,intermediate and dry zones are classified as below.
Wet ZoneIntermediate zone.
Dry zone- Annual rainfall above 2,200 mm– Annual rain fall between 2,000 mm and 2,200 mm- annual rainfall bellow 2,000 mm

Natural Hazards in Sri Lanka
Natural Disasters in Sri Lanka are mainly hydrometeorological and geological phenomenal events
such as floods, landslides, cyclones, tidal waves
droughts and Tsunamis

Major Natural Disasters in Sri Lanka

Floods

Lightning

Cyclones

Sea Erosion

Landslides

Sea SurgeDroughts

TsunamiTornadosEpidemics

High Winds

 Animal Attacks

The Hazard Profile(1974 – 2008)

Number of people affected by different disasters in Sri Lanka

2,964,655
3000000
2500000

2,072,512

2000000
1500000

1,009,474

1000000
500000303,001

46,7190

Flood

Tsunamilandslide

Drought

StrormWatawela -1992/1993
In Sri Lanka, most of landslides and cutting failures occur in the central highland of thecountry. The central region of Sri Lanka is hilly and mountainous with highly fractured
and folded basement rock overlain by residual soil and colluviums.

Nuwara Eliya District – Landslide occurred

03rd June 1992

Lot of damaged made railway track and railway transport routing
severely destructed
Rainfall about more than 200 mm

Mitigation of Watawala Landslide

Watawela -1993

Landslide at Wewelwatte (9th km) on Ratnapura- Wewelwatte Road

Compaction of Soil
The Road had collapsed
in 1980 and early 1990

Construction of a diversion drain to alength of about 500m from culverts 2/3
to 1/13 for run off and stream watercoming into the landslide area.

anchored tyre retaining walls

Kandy District- Peradeniya Landslide- 2006

With the heavy rainfall from 09th -11th November
2006,
A mass of soil and rock blocks failed at theupper slope of Peradeniya town 2006 at about
21:00 hrs night.

Due to this failure one shop
(Udaya Stores) wascompletely damaged•Landslide occurred on 15th October
2009 at about 2.30 am with the rainfallof 80.3mm(As at Gannoruwa Agriculture ResearchCenter).

Land subsidence at Matale District
Investigation started 2006 ,Prepared subsidence hazard
risk map
Ground subsidence
Sink hole

CracksAbout 3000 affected houses
were identified within 24 Grama
Niladhari divisions of Matale

DRR Activities Done by NBRO and DMC
Geographical distribution of cracked
houses showed an obvious relationshipwith the geological condition of the area
and causative factor to cracking of houses
was identified as the ground subsidence
due to underground erosion of silty
materials of the soil to the caverns inside
the marble rock of the area

Drilling

Bore hole logging

Subsidence hazard map

Landslide hazard awareness programe

Senior professor Kapila Dahanayake
Conducted awareness for peoples living with
Subsidence hazard - Matale district

2nd awareness program
held at Padiyapelella town
on 14-03-2009

Padiyapalella Town with potential landslide- 2007

With the heavy rainfall from 11th -12th January 2007, large number of landslides
occurred at the parts of Central province. Specially, both of Haguranketha andWalapane divisional secretariat areas
NBRO was started Padiyapalella landslide mitigation - 2009

Photograph showing an aerial view of Padiyapelella town with its unstable slope, after site cleaning

Resent landslide occurred Kandy District – Akurana Divisionalsecretariat area – ( 24th April 2010 )Ground instability occurred at the Dayagama Bazaar behind the Bus StandResent landslide occurred Kegalle District – Galigamuwa AGA
area – ( 28th April 2010 )Ground instability occurred Colombo District – Kolonawa AGA
area –1st May 2010 )Flood in very common occurrence in Sri
Lanka, during 2006 more than 400 000
people were internally displaced flood in
districts Kalutara, Rathnapura, Gampha,
Puttalam

Floods in Ratnapura & Matara-2006

Flood and Landslide Vulnerable District

Floodaffectedareas

RATNAPURA FLOODSNORMAL FLOOD LEVEL-60 FT. MSL

MINOR FLOOD LEVEL -60 FT
MAJOR FLOOD LEVEL - 70 FT.
CRITICAL FLOOD LEVEL- 80 FT.

MAJOR FLOODSCRITICAL 4NOS
1913
1940
1941
1989

MAJOR
12 NOS
1857
1872
1893
1924
1947
1957
1969
1978
1982
1988
1989
1993
2003

29

Summary Statistics of Damages due to
Floods in May 2003 in Ratnapura District
Number of Families Affected
Number of Deaths
No of Refugee Camps
No of people in camps
No of houses fully damaged
No of houses partiallydamagedNo of Schools damaged
No of wells affected

34,473
122
30
1,613
2,544
8,683
47
4,452

30

Year
1872
1891
1904
1906
1913
1922
1925
1928
1930
1930
1933
1936
1937
1939
1940
1942
1943
1944
1947
1947
1952
1952
1955
1957
1963
1966
1966
1967
1971
1975
1989

Water Level(ft) above MSL
11.90
9.80
9.90
10.80.
11.00
12.60
11.50
9.08
10.91
9.83
9.95
9.43
10.33
9.35
11.00
8.17
6.58
6.00
12.85
6.00
8.25
6.00
8.00
6.25
6.42
8.67
9.00
9.17
7.33
6.58
9.20

The Historical Floods – Colombo
District
The Highest water levels observed at the Nagalagam
Street gauge (Colombo) during historical floods since1837 are given below
Minor Flood Level:
5.00 ft
Major Flood Level:
7.00 ft
Dangerous flood Level: 9.00 ft
Critical Flood Level: 12.00 ft

Are we safe from Earthquakes?
YES!!!
Why?
Located in the central part of the plate
Thick package of Precambrian metamorphic rocks
No active faults
No single earthquake occurred
Seismically stable
But
Feel appx. One tremor one in two years
Intra-plate EQ in India
CIB mini plate activities

EARTHQUAKES NEAR THE ISLAND

Tsunami Disaster

Fourteen districts in the
coastal belt in Sri Lanka
were severely affectedby the Tsunami on
Sunday December 26th,
2004

A express train from Colombo was hit by
the tsunami wave at 9.35a.m. at Telwatta inSouthern Sri Lanka. With 1500 people onboard, only 200 survived.
Villagers who were trying to escape were
blocked by the train. More than 500 bodies
found.

1000 children are left without parents andmore than 3000 children have lost one
parentLoss of Employment : 275,000 numbers

El Nino
El Nino events are linked to Droughts in Sri Lanka•

El Nino is a naturally occurring phenomenon••

Extensive warming of the Equatorial surface water in theCentral and Eastern Pacific Ocean Off Peru coast•

No cyclic pattern, but observed every two to seven years•

Its negative phenomenon is called La Nina

Formation Of Cyclone And Moving Direction.
35 cyclone storms/cyclones had crossed thecoast in November and December period of
1881- 2001. Therefore in Sri Lanka
November/December is reckoned as thecyclone season

1%

Arabian Sea.

5%

Bay ofBengalCurtsey :Met Department SL

Cyclone Disaster
Highlight of the Batticaloa cyclone

Maximum rainfall in hours period(23/0900am – 24/0900am) – 300mm to400mm over Central hills

Batticaloa – Mannar
23.11.1978 01.30pm – 24.11.1978
07.00am

Surge -

1-2 meters in height(maximum observed)

DamageGenerally over 1 million people affected
915 human lives lost
65 people permanently disabled
100,000 house suffered extreme damaged
About 50% of the roof of buildings along thepath blown off

Coconut plantations and forest cover to a width of 35km of storm track wiped out
Curtsey :Met Department Data

Ancient Time -Disaster Management in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka rich in ancient culture. The hydraulic civilization found in the Dry Zone
by ancient Sinhalese kings display evidence of remarkable human effort taken
to mitigate the drought hazard.
The major features of this civilization were the construction of an intricate
system of reservoirs for strong water for agriculture.
The number of ancient reservoirs built in varying time periods scattered overdifferent parts of the dry zone amounts to over 10 000.
There is no doubt that the rural population in the dry zone whose survival there
today as a result of the timely and proper disaster plans initiated by the ancientmonarchs.

Disaster Management in Sri Lanka
Government of Sri Lanka has appointed a Cabinet Subcommittee on
natural disasters in 1991. The report was submitted on February 1993 withfollowing section,
Findings and recommendations
Institutional framework for national disaster management
National disaster management plan
National disaster management act
Reports of the Technical advisory group on following subjects,
Flood and cyclone
Landslide
Industrial accidents
Epidemics

National Disaster Management Center was established in July 1996,
under the Ministry of Social Services, with the cabinet approval and
Director was also appointed .

DM plan 1996

Ministry of Social Services
takes role in DM. speciallyon emergency relief
assistance for the victims ofdisaster, rehabilitation,
reconstruction activities.

Current Disaster Risk Management in Sri Lanka
In 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy drove the government of Sri Lanka totake step to strength its disaster management system. On 12 December
2005, in president declared to form Disaster Management & Human Rights
Ministry.

Current Disaster Risk Management in Sri Lanka

This act provides the provisions of establishment of•National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM)•the Disaster Management Centre (DMC)• appointment of technical advisory committees (TAC)•the preparation of Disaster Management Plan•the Declaration of a state of disaster•the Award of Compensation and for matters connected here with orincidental thereto

National Council For Disaster Management
Ministers in charge ofSocial Services
Rehabilitation &Reconstruction
Home Affairs
HealthScience &Technology
Housing
Coast
Conservation
Irrigation
Power
Defence

Ministers in charge of

National Council for
Disaster Management

PoliceFinanceLand

Chair Person : H.E. President
Vice Chairman: Hon. Prime Minister

Fisheries & Aquatic
Resources

Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Disaster
Management

Water Supply
Highways
Urban
Development
Education

DMC

Environment

Organizational Structure
National Level

National
Consultants

Disaster Management Centre(Director General)

DisasterManagement
Technology,
Mitigation
Unit

Tech.
Com.

Tech.
Com.

Forecasting,
Early warning&
Dissemination
Unit

Finance Branch(Deputy Director)

Intermediate &Local Levels

Preparedness
Planning
Unit

Tech.
Com.

Tech.
Com.

Training,
Education& Public
Awareness
Unit

Personnel &Administration
Branch
(Deputy Director)

District Emergency Operation Centres(DRM Coordinators)
Disaster Management Assistants

Tech.
Com.

National
Emergency
Operation
CentreMedia Unit
(Deputy Director)

National Water supply
and Drainage Board

Armed
Forces

PoliceDO Social Service

NCDM

GSMB
NBRO
DOM
DOI

Technical
advisory
committees(TAC)

Min of DM

DMC

Atomic Energy Authority
Through District DM Coordinators

Marine Pollution andPrevention Authority
DOH
DO Agriculture
UDA
SLT & other Telecom
Services
Disaster relief Services

Provincial
Council
Local
AuthoritiesDistrict
Secretaries
DivisionalSec
GN
Villages

DistrictNGO &CBO

Cabinet changed in 2010
Ministry changed from

Ministry of Disaster Management &Human Rights
Prime Minister

Hon. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake

Minister

Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe

Secretary

To

Prof. Rajeewa Wijesinghe

Ministry of Disaster Management
Prime Minister

Hon. D.M. Jayarathna

Minister

Hon. M. Fowzie

Secretary

Madam S.M Mohamed

NBRO was created toserve the needs of thepeople in the country,
and the needs differedfrom time to time.

National Building Research Organisation(NBRO)
Established : 1984
NBRO
(Multidisciplinary Institution)

Research

GeotechnicalEngineering

Technical Services

Building
Materials

EnvironmentalProject
Management

Development

Human
Settlements
Planning

Landslide
Disaster
Mitigation

NBRO staff
Quantity
surveyors
Town
Planners

Scientists

Environment
alistsGeologists

NBRO
Architects

EngineersGeotechnical Engineering
Division was formed tocater geotechnicalinvestigations needs in the
countryNBRO played a key role in state Million Housing programme

In 1988
Quality Surveillanceof Pipe-Borne Waterin Greater Colombo
started andcontinued to date.

Landslide Studies and Services
Division established in NBRO
in 1993

Landslides in 1986 necessitatedgovernment action to start
Landslide investigations by NBRO

Landslide Hazard Zonation Mapping Project(LHMP) started in 1990 by NBRO/UNDP Chief
Technical Advisor

Special investigations on geo-hazards observed inlandslide prone areas and proposing mitigation
methods

In the past NBRO worked under many ministries• Ministry for local government• Ministry for policy planning and implementation• Ministry for housing & construction•Ministry of Disaster Management & Human RightNBRO now

Assistance to NBRO
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

UNDP assisted the forming of NBRO in 1984
UNDP assisted to start landslide studies
Grants from Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2002
Grants from Japan International Cooperation Agency in 2006
Grants from GTZ in 2007
Grants from UNDP in 2008
Continual assistance of Government of Sri Lanka

Collaboration programmes• UNDP• Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC)• Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)• International Institute for Geo-information Scienceand Earth Observation (ITC)• Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)Red Cross & Environmental Foundation Limited• Practical Action• Strengthening of capacity building programe-ADRc
2010

Managed refuge camps during the period of war started for peace - 2006,
Kantale, Trincomale district

Flood inundation mapping -2006, Diyagama ds division, kalutara district

GPS mapping of floodinundation area
Identified risk
elements in flood
vulnerable areas

Ground water problem

Recorded of floodinundation height

Illegal sand mining lead toembankment failures

Capacity build up programe for Assistant Government Agents,
flood vulnerable villages -2006
Threatening of flood inundation areas
Aware ofgovernment
officers

Hazard mapping

Implemented
behaviors / feelingsof disasters
Explained of risk element

Risk mapping of flood hazard vulnerable areas - 2007
Biyagama ds division-Gampha district,

Recorded flood inundation levels,
duration of inundation,
Damages, list of victims….etc.
Conducted community baseawareness, introduced
embankment protection methods.

Conducted damage
assessment fieldsurveyedMahawewa , Meeriyagolla- Walapane Landslide Risk Reduction
Modal Site Project Under DRM Programme

On January 11, 2007, due to heavy rain which unexpectedly fell on
Walapane division, a landslide occurred in Mahawewa , Meeriyagolla
Vilages.

The financial support of the UNDP and the coordination of theDisaster Management Centre
National Building Research Organisation started mitigation activities - 2008
Awareness for School children of Kerthi Bandara Maha Vidyala

Rain gauge

Surveying of landslide

Rainfall Data Record Notice Board

Toe area of thelandslide

Keerthi Bandara
SchoolBody of the landslide

Landslidemoving direction

Head of the landslide

At present, the project area has been mapped for its topographical andgeological details.

Cutting failures occurred Maharagama divisional area ( 17th May 2010)- Colombo district)

Technical report submitted toclients

andguidedhow

toconstruct gabion wall to protect
future failure

Tree Plantation Programe – Rathnapura district 2009

Determine the impact of rock blasting / excavation on the observed
depletion of ground water table - 2010
study areas are situated in the wet zone of Sri Lanka.
Geomorphology of the study area,
Kalani Ganga is the main river,

Sociological data were also recorded during
the interviews with villagers,

Reduced the water levels in their wells ,Thank you