For those who may not know, Stuart was at the controls on December 26, 2004 when the great earthquake that caused the tsunami occurred. I visited PTWC a few weeks later and met Stuart and his colleague Barry Hirshorn leading to my first piece on early warning, post-tsunami. Despite all the controversies that were swirling around, Stuart and his colleagues were incredibly forthcoming and open, even agreeing to give evidence via a video link for the useless Presidential Commission on the Tsunami. Being the practical man he is, Stuart installed some new software at the Met Department that will help them make better use of ocean level information sent by the World Meteorological Organization and has also drafted some recommendations for the Sri Lanka authorities on how to improve their processes.

Thanks to Lakshaman and Stuart for their public-spiritedness. The CSR cooperation with Vanguard continues.

The salient features of the Concept Paper were presented to the Commission, in addition several other research findings relevant to the Commission. The importance of an all-hazards approach was stressed and governance model options were discussed. Recommendations on actions that are needed by government were made and intended actions by the Vanguard Foundation were presented.

Commission members, retired Supreme Court Judge H.S. Yapa (chairman) and retired Court of Appeal Judge P.H.K. Kulatilaka took great interest in the presentation made by authors, Rohan Samarajiva and Malathy Knight John and Vanguard Services Managing Director, Lakshaman Bandaranayake.

Copies of the final Concept Paper were provided to the Commission, and supplementary material and contacts were also provided.

Presentation slides: NEWS:SL Presentation to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry