Abstract:
There is a general belief that Sri Lanka is in a
disaster free zone. However, frequent cyclone warnings
and earthquake tremors over the past few decades and the
December 2004 Tsunami show that this belief may no longer
be valid for Sri Lanka. The Tsunami of 26th December 2004,
which devastated a 800 km stretch of costal area of Sri Lanka
killed more than 36,000 unwary people and displaced more
than 800,000. It was the worst ever disaster in the history of
Sri Lanka. Due to inadequate attention paid to these events in
construction practice, the damages caused are enormous both to
human life and to the built environment. There is no guarantee
that this kind of natural disaster will not happen again. They
could repeat in the future, may be with lower magnitudes or
intensity. This indicates that some kind of disaster preparedness
is of great importance today. This paper deals with few natural
disasters which could affect the built environment, and suggests
some simple and useful guidelines to improve the disaster
resistance of low rise buildings
