On May 14th that I retweeted a satellite image of a weather system over Sri Lanka. The tweet said “WEATHER ALERT – Severe rain over #LK will continue for next 24/48hrs. Public cautioned over flash floods & landslides.” The hazard was public knowledge, contrary to some claims now being made.
WEATHER ALERT – Severe rain over #LK will continue for next 24/48hrs. Public cautioned over flash floods &landslides pic.twitter.com/4vBwKPKJdk
— Sri Lanka Red Cross (@SLRedCross) May 15, 2016
Now some are asking why the government did not provide early warnings, issue evacuation orders, provide security to the homes of evacuable homes, and so on. In my view, this is not useful. It is better to ask why people do not attend to (and act upon) early warnings when provided, why they do not obey evacuation orders when given, and so on.
We have come to this realization after more than 10 years of engagement in disaster-risk reduction and disaster response.
More details next week in FT and here.
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