Engineering surveys of Sri Lankan schools exposed to tsunami

SSRN Electronic Journal

Asked what hazard posed the greatest threat to their school, the principals of coastal schools in the Galle, Ampara and Batticaloa districts of Sri Lanka overwhelmingly responded "tsunami". This result is unsurprising considering the scale and trauma caused by the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. This tsunami claimed over 35,000 victims in Sri Lanka, a third of whom were children. It damaged and destroyed 182 schools, and a further 287 served as camps for internally displaced persons. Given that Sri Lanka is far from all potential sources of earthquakeinduced tsunami, and that there is time for early warning and evacuation, it is crucial that coastal schools are prepared and ready to act. This study uses semi-structured interviews with school principals and regional education and disaster management officials to gain insights into the tsunami preparedness of the Sri Lankan education sector. Overall, our findings show that schools are heavily reliant on tsunami early warning towers for their warning, yet only half of the 430 Sri Lankan schools exposed to tsunami are within audible range of a tsunami early warning tower. It is crucial therefore that alternative and backup early warning channels are established where needed. However, the interviews show that there is a very low level of baseline hazard preparedness. There are few or no fire drills, let alone tsunami evacuation plans or drills. The school principals express the view clearly that the education system in Sri Lanka is ill-prepared for a future tsunami. We find however that there are opportunities to involve existing safety committees in school preparedness and in the development of evacuation plans; and to exploit existing regular teacher curriculum training events to develop capacities in emergency response and evacuation. Importantly, experiences from a past tsunami drill with Sri Lankan communities emphasise the importance of holding regular school practice drills as well as "end-to-end" (from tsunami detection to tsunami evacuation) community evacuation exercises.

JPPUMA: Jurnal Ilmu Pemerintahan dan Sosial Politik Universitas Medan Area, 2018

Infrastructure and facilities is an important aspect of disaster management especially in areas with high Tsunami potential such as Mentawai Islands. One of the groups which are vulnerable to Tsunami is students. This vulnerability is due to the low preparedness of Sekolah Siaga Bencana (School-Based Disaster Preparedness, abbreviated as SBB) students in disaster risk reduction. This study aims to analyze the relationship of infrastructure and facilities to the preparedness of SSB students in disaster risk reduction especially tsunami. This study is a quantitative research conducted by using a correlative-analytic observational design and cross-sectional approach with a sample of 109 students taken from 5th and 6th grader in 3 Sekolah Dasar Negeri (Elementary School or SDN) namely SDN 13, SDN 16 and SDN 17 in Sipora District, Mentawai Islands. There is a significant relationship between infrastructurefacilities and the preparedness of SBB students towards the reduction of Tsunami risk with the value of (p = 0.000) and r = 0.98. Infrastructure and facilities have a significant relationship with the preparedness of SBB students so that it can inhibit the reduction of tsunami risk in Sipora District, Mentawai Islands.

Technium Social Sciences Journal, 2021

The Sunda Strait tsunami disaster in 2018 claimed the lives of more than 430 people and caused various damage to infrastructure in coastal areas. This disaster also had an impact on the education sector. Schools located in disaster-prone areas are vulnerable to building damage that causes casualties and psychological problems for students. The west coast of Pandeglang Regency is a tsunami-prone area and is home to hundreds of elementary and high school schools in the area. The aim of this study is to analyze of the structural framework for schools affected by the sunda strait tsunami. The research locus was determined by purposive sampling in three locations: MTs Masyariqul Anwar in Labuan, SDN Mekarjaya 3 in Panimbang, and SDN Tamanjaya 2 in Sumur. This research data analysis uses qualitative data analysis techniques by Miles, Huberman and Saldana (2014). This research used disaster school survey form issued by National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) which regulated in Head of B...

2011

Safety measures against the future disaster risk are considered as the main aspect of post disaster reconstructions. The majority of post-disaster villages/settlements and due projects on Sri Lankan coastline are apparently lacking behind the proper safety measures and adequate evacuation procedures. Therefore the immediate necessities of proper safety measures have to be emphasized in order to mitigate future tsunami risks. This paper introduces a number of post disaster coastal villages/settlements, which are in future coastline hazard risk, mainly in a future tsunami event. These include their location risk, land uses and housing designs defects and shortcomings of other safety measures. Furthermore few tsunami risk mitigation measures through land use planning strategies, which could be applied more easily in community level, are introduced. In addition to those the strategic development methods of functional networks of evacuation routes and shelters in different topographies a...

2008

In this new SOURCE publication, written by Dr. Juan Carlos Villagran de Leon, the Head of Section Risk Management at UNU-EHS, the author follows the motto of the United Nations University, ‘Advancing Knowledge for Human Security and Development’, and presents a framework for minimising tsunami damage, establishing an early warning system, and ensuring human safety through examining the case study of the port city of Galle in Sri Lanka.

After several tsunami events with disastrous consequences around the world, coastal countries have realized the need to be prepared to minimize human mortality and damage to coastal infrastructures, livelihoods and resources. The international scientific community is striving to develop and validate methodologies for tsunami hazard and vulnerability and risk assessments. The vulnerability of coastal communities is usually assessed through the definition of sets of indicators based on previous literature and/or post-tsunami reports, as well as on the available data for the study site. The aim of this work is to validate, in light of past tsunami events, the indicators currently proposed by the scientific community to measure human vulnerability, to improve their definition and selection as well as to analyse their validity for different country development profiles. The events analysed are the 2011 Great Tohoku tsunami, the 2010 Chilean tsunami, the 2009 Samoan tsunami and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The results obtained highlight the need for considering both permanent and temporal human exposure, the former requiring some hazard numerical modelling, while the latter is related to site-specific livelihoods, cultural traditions and gender roles. The most vulnerable age groups are the elderly and children, the former having much higher mortality rates. Female mortality is not always higher than male mortality and not always related to dependency issues. Higher numbers of disabled people do not always translate into higher numbers of victims. Besides, it is clear that mortality is not only related to the characteristics of the population but also of the buildings. A high correlation has been found between the affected buildings and the number of victims, being very high for completely damaged buildings. Distance to the sea, building materials and expected water depths are important determining factors regarding the type of damage to buildings.

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami damaged a number of buildings in many Asian countries. The objective of this paper is to determine the significant predictor variables and the direction of their relationship to the building damage level. This study used data collected by in Sri Lanka to analyze via the statistical approach. The tested explanatory parameters included the inundation depth, the structural materials, and the areas.

Pure and Applied Geophysics, 2015

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was one of the most devastating tsunamis in world history. The tsunami caused damage to most of the Asian and other countries bordering the Indian Ocean. After a decade, reconstruction has been completed with different levels of tsunami countermeasures in most areas; however, some land use planning using probabilistic tsunami hazard maps and vulnerabilities should be addressed to prepare for future tsunamis. Examples of early-stage reconstruction are herein provided alongside a summary of some of the major tsunamis that have occurred since 2004, revealing the tsunami countermeasures established during the reconstruction period. Our primary objective is to report on and discuss the vulnerabilities found during our field visits to the tsunami-affected countries-namely, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives. For each country, future challenges based on current tsunami countermeasures, such as land use planning, warning systems, evacuation facilities, disaster education and disaster monuments are explained. The problem of traffic jams during tsunami evacuations, especially in well-known tourist areas, was found to be the most common problem faced by all of the countries. The readiness of tsunami warning systems differed across the countries studied. These systems are generally sufficient on a national level, but local hazards require greater study. Disaster reduction education that would help to maintain high tsunami awareness is well established in most countries. Some geological evidence is well preserved even after a decade. Conversely, the maintenance of monuments to the 2004 tsunami appears to be a serious problem. Finally, the reconstruction progress was evaluated based on the experiences of disaster reconstruction in Japan. All vulnerabilities discussed here should be addressed to create longterm, disaster-resilient communities.

The purpose of this article is to explore how the Sri Lankan government has improved the Tsunami Disaster Prevention Systems in Sri Lanka. A special focus will be given to the role of Broadcasters and international organizations on disaster management. It has been eight years since the Indian ocean tsunami hit Sri Lanka. Since then the Sri Lankan government has been focusing more on disaster prevention and initiating several development projects at various levels to educate the people and protect them from disasters / tsunami. This research covers four major topics, namely: the role of Sri Lankan government, the role of media & broadcasters, the role of international organizations, and some selected development projects on disaster management at various levels (national, community, and village). One of the key findings of this research is that the Sri Lankan government has set up a good disaster management network

Science and Environmental Journal for Postgraduate, 2020

SMAN 4 Pariaman is located in an area prone to disasters, especially the earthquake and tsunami. SMAN 4 Pariaman is located on the coast of the West Coast of Sumatra, which belongs to the tsunami red zone in Pariaman City. Based on this, all school residents must be prepared to face the disasters that will occur, especially the earthquake and tsunami. This type of research is a combination of research (Mixed Methods). This research is a step of research by combining two pre-existing forms of research namely qualitative research and quantitative research. The results of the study found 5 main priorities, namely 1) Optimization of meeting the basic needs of disaster management with a value of (5,000), 2) Application of evacuation routes and zones of vulnerability to our position or presence (4,556), 3) Socialization through facilities and infrastructure prepared by parties BPBD with grades (4,412), 4) Make maps to the evacuation sites of schools with grades (4,200), 5) Facilitate evac...