The tsunami hazard in Sri Lanka strategic approach for the protection of lives, ecosystems and infrastructure

Abstract

The Indian Ocean Tsunami devastated the coastline of Sri Lanka. This paper summarizes the initial efforts in understanding the tsunami wave and its hydraulic impact on the Sri Lankan coastline. It focuses attention on the hydraulic processes that led to large scale inundation, presents analysis of wave-current measurements recorded on the offshore of the Colombo Harbor and describes post-tsunami field investigations to assess the overall impact on the coastline. The paper identifies the need to model potential tsunamis and discusses issues relating to the planning of countermeasures.