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| Sunday, 16 May 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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The National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) warns... : Touch not mother nature and prevent landslides by Vimukthi Fernando
It needs remembering, though many would prefer to forget. The lives that unnecessarily got submerged in the muddy waters. The lives that were buried under mountainous boulders and mounds of earth. It needs remembering - to stop such a dark time from happening again. Disaster struck Sri Lanka last May, in the form of floods and land slides, claiming 265 lives and displacing around 365,700 families. And one year hence, the National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) has once again issued warnings on landslides. But, how many of these warnings are heeded? 'Landslides' has become a household word in the Sri Lankan vocabulary in the past decade. The phenomenon, rare in the Sri Lankan history has become rather common with catastrophic results within the past two decades. But what are landslides? How do they occur? How could we minimise the damage caused by landslides? How can they be prevented from happening? The Sunday Observer met NBRO officials to find out. What is a landslide? Landslides occur when masses of rock, earth, or debris move down a slope. It could either be at slow or at very high speeds. When a slope has no proper drainage, rain water is retained within the soil mass, breaking up the soil layers. Surface soil becomes heavy with retained water and increases the tendency to slide down due to gravitational pull. Activated by storms, fires and by human modification of the land, landslides commonly occur during rainstorms, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and various other damaging human activities. Mudflows, associated with landslides result with water rapidly accumulating in the ground. The water flowing down slopes can travel several miles from its source, growing in size as it picks up trees, and other material along the way, and can strike with little or no warning at avalanche speeds. What causes landslides? Landslides can be triggered by many factors, natural as well as man-made. The natural causes include excessive rainfall which saturates the soil and the geological formation of the area. However, many human actions augment the damage caused by rain and geological formation and compounds the situation. Changes of land use such as deforestation causes soil erosion and increases the potential of infiltration and saturation of the soil during rain. Mining and quarrying may cause damage to the geological formation. Even beneficial measures such as building of roads, dams and the like destabilises the landscape. When are landslides likely to occur? Landslides could occur any time in vulnerable areas receiving over 75 mm of rain within 24 hours. However, forecasting is difficult. The geology, hydrology, slope, land formation, land use patterns and soil types of an area need consideration to determine its vulnerability to landslides says R.M.S. Bandara, Head of Landslide Division, NBRO. However, the threats looms large during the monsoon seasons, especially during the months of May and June, when the hill country gets large amounts of rain. Kegalle, Ratnapura and Kalutara districts situated in the Western slope are especially vulnerable says Bandara. Though forecasting is difficult and real time forecasting has only become a dream, due to lack of equipment NBRO has identified Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Matale, Kandy, Kegalle, Kalutara, Matara, Galle and Hambantota as prone to the risk of landslides. Landslide hazard identification maps had been already drawn for five districts and maps for three more districts are already in progress, says Bandara. The likely signs of landslide prone areas However, if one is alert he or she can recognise the warning signs of landslides, says Bandara. Opening of new cracks on slope surfaces, opening of new cracks and widening of old cracks in buildings, sinking of floors in buildings, forward or backward tilting of trees, sudden oozing of muddy water from slopes, fanning out of surface water flow and unusual behaviour of animals such as howling or unusual gathering and running away are obvious warning signals, says Bandara. How to prevent landslides? It is no secret that the main cause for landslides in Sri Lanka is human intervention. Ninety per cent of landslides in Ratnapura town are due to cutting failures, says Bandara. The highlands, the heart of the country faces the threat of landslides due to the destruction of mountain eco-systems. Deforestation, unauthorised constrictions, gem-mining, quarrying and the like are but only a few threatening activities that intensifies the threat of landslides. The sad story is that many of these activities take place with the blessing of influential authorities and with political patronage. If the authorities need be shocked into reality, the happenings of May 2003 would have been enough. Though many a committee and commission was appointed, the question looms large to what tangible action was taken? It has become imperative that the relevant authorities take a holistic approach in preserving and conserving the few mountain ecosystems we have at least at this late stage, for the mere survival of the nation. We thank S. Arumainathan, Director General, National Building Research Organisation (NBRO) for releasing the pictures. ###### Wayamba opens elephant corridors by Shanika Sriyananda The Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWLC) will soon establish new elephant corridors and ease food and water scarcity in the Wayamba province to reduce the escalating human and elephant conflict resulting in casualties to the animal and human.
According to DWLC statistics, three elephants and one human die per week due to human-elephant conflict (HEC) in the districts of Puttlam, Anuradhapura and Kurunegala, where the highest number of elephants are being killed. Over fortyfive elephants, in Wayamba, had been killed mainly by the villagers to protect their agriculture-based properties last year, and during the past four months, eighteen elephants have been killed. Over fifteen villagers in the province have died due to HEC. D. Kariyawasam, the DWLC Director General, said the department had implemented short and long term plans under an Action Plan drawn to save the elephant population in the country and to curb the HEC in highly sensitive areas. "The main causes for the HEC are two fold. Compared to the elephant population, their habitats are decreasing due to encroachment by the villagers for agricultural purposes. The other reason is the severe scarcity of food and in their habitats due to diminishing forest cover. We cannot enlarge the remaining forest cover now. The only solution is the elephant corridors, where the elephants can roam from one forest to another. The two new elephant corridors - Wilpattu to Kahalapallekelle and Kahalapallekelle to Ritigala are already under construction", he said. The DWLC is also in the process of growing more grasslands in the protected areas and building of large tanks to ease food and water scarcity in the national parks. " Large tanks will come up in Tabbowe, Karuwalagaswewe and Siyambalanduwe, but these are long term plans", Kariyawasam pointed out. "When their is a food scarcity, elephants tend to come to near by villages and cultivations in search of food. Angry village folks use firearms to protect their cultivations. Most of the elephants were killed due to shooting and some due to land mines", he added. "We will complete the first phase of the Action Plan in the coming months", he said. ###### ECO - Personality Dr. Ajantha Perera : 'Environment protection starts from home' by Vimukthi Fernando "Fulfilling" is how she describes her life. "I believe that already at this age I had a very fulfilled life," she says explaining that fatigue does not occur when she sees how her work contributes to better someone's life. A petite figure with an enchanting smile. A mother with two teenage schoolchildren. She is a busy woman propelled by the desire to better the lives of fellow citizens. "Unless we can breath clean air, unless we can drink clean water and unless we can eat fresh healthy food we can't live," rings her smiling and confident voice.
A cleaner environment is what she has been fighting for, over the past 12 years, ever since she stepped on her motherland, after 17 years of overseas study and a Doctoral degree in Environment. Though the quest earned her more brickbats than bouquets, Dr. Ajantha Perera plods indomitably on the path for a cleaner environment. Environment protection is the protection of part of human rights, she argues. "The very act that you burn some rubbish in front of your neighbours garden causing air pollution, making your neighbour sick is that you are breaking human rights, taking away your neighbours right to live," Dr. Perera points out.The founder of the National programme of solid waste, she was the first to draw attention to the word 'recycling' which lay dormant in the country at the time. Now, part of the ordinary level syllabus 'prathichakrikaranaya' is a word coined by Dr. Perera in her effort in creating awareness on solid waste recycling. "I am happy to see that the schoolchildren have a lesson on recycling as part of their syllabus," says Dr. Perera. Environment protection starts from the home. You do not necessarily have to have foreign funding or expertise. Sri Lanka's resources natural, environment and human, must be pulled together and used. Many an activity could be carried out successfully at the local level without waiting for foreign funding, she points out. Most important is the people's initiative, she points out. "Initiate sramadana. Get people involved," she says. Speaking of the polythene menace, she insists that 'shopping bags' be banned. Introduced in the 1970s and continued due to its convenience the hazard of 'shopping bags' still lay at large due to the influence of rich factory owners, she argues. The bags which come out with the 'tag' that they are bio-degradable is a farce, she points out. "There is no alternative but to ban the use. The moment you ban, then people will have creative alternatives to the shopping bag," she says. Environment takes priority in her life, says Dr. Perera, as she embarks on a project to upgrade the lives of people who have made garbage collection, their living. "I have known them, picking waste at the dump sites since 1992. They have no proper housing. The children get no schooling. They are undernourished and some have become drug addicts. I am happy that I got an opportunity to help them at last," says Dr. Perera. The project comes under the purview of her work as the Executive Director, Department of Social Responsibility at the Methodist Headquarters. The environmental institute she established 'Lanka Environment Recyclers' Institute, provides post graduate education on environment and 'Parisara Maga' the newspaper printed in all three languages, makes children and adults alike aware on environment issues. |
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The highest elephant death rate has been recorded from the Wayamba
province and it is over 40 percent of the total elephant deaths recorded
in the country, annually. Nearly 120 elephants are killed islandwide and
the second highest elephant death rate has been reported from the Mahaweli
areas.
