Abstract:
Knowledge on coastal hazards among the community is very important in
minimizing properly damage and also safe the Uves of people who Hve in the
coastal region. Among the several coastal hazards, the Tsunami is the most
destructive natural hazard that can be occurred. On 26th December 2004, the
Sri Lankan community at the coastal belt experienced this massive disaster
due to the Tsunami caused due to the huge earthquake occurred at off the
coast of Sumathra. This resulted widespread damage both property and
human lives. It was reputed that the loss of Uves in Sri Lanka is around
40,000 and which was around 250,000 in the region. The millions of people
loss their homes.
The damage for Sri Lankans were very high due to the unawareness and
unprepardness. In Sri Lankan History, it was not experienced such dramatic
hazard in the recent past. That was the main reason for increasing the
damage.
In this survey, it was planned to assess the degree of awareness among the
community about Tsunami and its mitigatory measures. The survey was
carried out in two steps in December 2006.
i) Before the 2"^ anniversary of Tsunami
ii) After the 2"^ anniversary of Tsunami
The survey was planned for both school children and the general public. It
was possible to coUect around 1200 samples from both categories. The
selection of G.N Division was carried out based on the effectiveness of
Tsunami whether they were effected, moderately effected or severely effected.
While concentrating on G.N Divisions on such a way the schools were selected
from the data obtained from the Southern Provincial Education Department.
Students as well as pubUc were very keen in answering questions at the
survey.
Once collecting data, it was presented in graphical and tabulator forms in
order to compare the results. According to the results, it was found that the
community was fuUy unaware at the time of Tsunami hitting the coastal belt
of the country. The media effect was not sufficient to disseminate the message
among the community. This has been remarkably improved at the time of
Tsunami warning given on 28*^ March 2005. But the knowledge on present
developments of integrated Tsunami monitoring system, evacuation plan are
not suflicient. The survey shows that the continuous actions on awareness,
updating knowledge and capacity building to be carried out in order to
minimize the damage that can be caused by future Tsunamis.
ii
