Sri Lanka first to field test satellite radio for specialises disaster warning, response and recovery system

Jan. 23 (LBO) – Over a year after the 2004 December tsunami, residents of 32 affected coastal villages will test a satellite based disaster warning system, prior to coast wide implementation.



















Jan. 23 (LBO) – Over a year after the 2004 December tsunami, residents of 32 affected coastal villages will test a satellite based disaster warning system, prior to coast wide implementation. The December disaster killed some 31,000 coastal residents and holiday makers in Sri Lanka.

Studies in the aftermath of the horror pointed to the lack of a disaster warning system, which, if was in place at the time of disaster, would have triggered a warning, an estimated hour and half before the waves crashed into Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

Of some 226 Sarvodaya villages that were affected by the tsunami, a select 32 will receive disaster mitigation training and disaster warning equipment through a project initiated by LIRNEasia, the regional ICT policy and regulation capacity building organization.

The Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) funded project will test the effectiveness of disaster mitigation training and five different village level disaster warning technologies dur