GDRC takes part in a Tsunami Simulation Exercise
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 12:03:00 BST
On the 7th September 2016, Disaster Management Center (DMC) and the Ministry of Disaster Management, Government of Sri Lanka joined with seven other countries in the Indian Ocean Rim as a participant in a Regional and National tsunami simulation exercise. The purpose of this regional and national scale exercise is to evaluate the physical as well as the human resource capacity and response times of the various stakeholders involved in addressing such a rare but potentially very destructive tsunami event and to improve coordination throughout the 14 coastal districts of the country.
Photo: Local communities gather at the evacuation centre
The exercise tested the current procedures of the Tsunami Warning System in the country and helped to identify operational strengths and weaknesses at all levels and which include regional to national and national to community level. The exercise also simulated a widespread Tsunami Warning and Watch situation throughout the Coastal belt of Sri Lanka.
Photo: During the Exercise people were given “emergency bags” of essentials
In this exercise, Chathuranganie Jayakodi, a PhD Researcher at the Global Disaster Resilience Centre (GDRC), University of Huddersfield, was appointed as a one of the external evaluators to evaluate the effectiveness of communication flow between the stakeholders involved, country readiness and the efficiency of emergency operation and response procedures in place.
Photos:
(Above) Evacuation Exercise De Briefing
(Below) evaluators in Beruwala DS division including Chathuranganie Jayakodi
