Tag Archives: Mahinda Samarasinghe
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Sri Lanka: Dialog assists Disaster Management
Dialog Telekom PLC in collaboration with its partners Dialog University of Moratuwa Mobile Communications Research Laboratory and Microimage Technologies together with the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) of Sri Lanka launched Sri Lanka’s first ever mass alert warning system; the ‘Disaster and Emergency Warning Network’ (DEWN) yesterday under the patronage of Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe.
Speaking on the launch of DEWN Group Chief Executive Officer, Dialog Telekom PLC, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya said that “There are 10 million people in this country who have access to telecommunication and mobile services. Now the mobile has become a powerful tool which could be called as a ‘Digital Empowerment Device’ and our citizens are digitally empowered into the digital network”. Dr. Wijayasuriya went onto say that now one can even provide banking and other information services via a mobile phone unit adding that the Dialog News Alert service has now reached 350,000 subscribers.
DEWN is a system that was being tested by the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) to alert Dialog mobile users of potential disasters via a method called ‘Cell Broadcast’. Users only need to configure area information reception settings on their Dialog mobiles to receive the alerts issued. The DMC takes ..read more
3 tsunami warning towers, 25 more to come (repeat story from 2006)
This is getting to be quite boring. The same story about three towers and 25 to come repeated since July 2006. Instead of writing a new post, I will simply link to an old one. If you don’t like that, here’s the original post from 2006.
Tsunami warning tower fails on September 12th
We assume that the failure of the Hikkaduwa tower will be examined as part of the comprehensive review the Minister has called for.
The important thing is to think about warning as a chain with many links. If one link breaks, the chain breaks. The conclusions are that one must minimize the number of links and ensure that each is link is robust. It appears from the story that a link in the Galle district failed. Why can we not directly connect the Met Department which has been given authority to issue warnings directly to the towers using a robust technology such as WorldSpace addressable satellite radio that does not even require mains power?
Is not foolhardy to install more towers before the operation of the existing towers has been remedied? :: Daily Mirror – Features ::
Thousands of people living in the Hikkaduwa area which was of the worst affected area in the south heaved a sigh of relief when a Tsunami Early Warning Tower was installed on the Hikkaduwa beach.
Review of tsunami warning/alert
The Minister is to be commended for initiating the review of the alert process that went from alert to evacuation in minutes.
Sri Lanka News | Online edition of Daily News – Lakehouse Newspapers
Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe, called for an immediate review of the tsunami alert process that was put into operation on September 12 to learn from the experience and refine procedures the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry in a release said.He stated that the successful exercise could prove a platform for future improvements to the early warning process making it more effective and efficient.
Tsunami warning in 45 minutes
It is good to have a confident Minister. Of course, we would sleep better if we were shown the results of some on-the-ground simulations, rather than given bland assurances. After all some of us remember his statements about the large number of warning towers that would be erected and operational by the second anniversary of the tsunami (and the actual outcome was . . . .One?): Another noteworthy matter is that the Minister has increased the time get the warning out within the country to 30 mts from 23 mts. More realistic? Perhaps he will give us a corrected, realistic figure on warning towers as well? Sri Lanka News | Online edition of Daily News – Lakehouse Newspapers
Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe assured Sri Lanka was now having technology to alert coastal areas within 45 minutes of a possible tsunami triggering earthquake in the region.Addressing reporters at the Disaster Management Ministry yesterday, he said the set up was not 100 per cent perfect but the country was better prepared now than before the December 2004 tsunami.
“When there was this recent Sumatra quake of 7.5 points, a message from the Hawaii Tsunami Warning Centre reached my desk ..read more
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