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| Sunday, 3 November 2002 |
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Predictions of earthquakes, earthslips : Meteorite heading for Sri Lanka in next few days? by ANTON NONIS Lalith Wijewardana who had successfully forecast earthquakes in various parts of the world, has predicted that a meteorite would hit Sri Lanka within the next few days. According to his forecast, the meteorite would strike a paddy field or abandoned land at Nittambuwa in the Gampaha District. However, no mention has been made about the size of the outerspace object nor the extent of damage it might cause to Nittambuwa or to the country as a whole. However, it has been theorised that the impact may cause a tremor in and around where it strikes, which would be of an easily perceptible magnitude. The prediction has been made on the confidence Wijewardana has acquired on events of a similar nature in the past. To mention some predictions to his credit was the earthquakes in Gujarat and Bangladesh in January, 2001 and, a few months later, an earthquake 300 kilometres away in Iraq.Wijewardana says that the geographical plane that existed earlier for earthquakes in Japan, Turkey, Philippines and Italy has now changed and exists on a plane along India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Wijewardana has been a lecturer on Gemology for the past several years. He says that gemology has enabled him to acquire vast knowledge on different types of soil and its properties in various locations in Sri Lanka. It has also led him to cultivate a somewhat unusual hobby of collecting soil samples from different localities. These are then subjected to analyses from which important conclusions are arrived at. "I make use of the conclusions in making predictions on matters that involve the earth," Wijewardana says. Some predictions of landslides in Sri Lanka have already been made and listed out along the Nuwara Eliya-Udapussellawa Road, Nuwara Eliya-Welimada Road, Bandarawela-Wellawaya Road, Badulla-Bandarawela Road and a hillock in Haputale. The landslides in all these are predicted be able to cause sizeable disasters, according to Wijewardana.A prediction has also been made about an earthquake in Sri Lanka next year (2003), which is suspected will occur in a triangular area bordering areas of Kotahena and Galle Face upto Moratuwa. Wijewardana who predicts the earthquake will be of considerable magnitude says that the tremor would be felt along the coastal belt in the triangle. So far nowhere in the world has a prediction of an earthquake been made before it has occurred. It had always been that if any action is taken, it was always after the earthquake had taken place. On that score, Wijewardana's appears to be the first of its kind where an earthquake has been predicted. Asked how he did it, Wijewardana said it was something he could not present a clear-cut explanation of. "I foresee it-let's say its intuition", he says. |
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