Tsunami towers to be checked weekly

by Ananda KANNANGARA

The Disaster Management Ministry last week focused immediate attention towards the importance of carrying out regular maintenance work on Tsunami Early Warning Towers and directed the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) to repair all malfunctioning towers without delay.

According to the Disaster Management Ministry, 74 Towers have been installed in coastal areas including in the thickly populated areas of Colombo, Modara, Beruwala, Moratuwa, Lunawa, Kalutara and Galle to provide information to the public on tsunamis.Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told the Sunday Observer that according to new regulations, officials of Provincial Disaster Management Centres will have to thoroughly check all 74 towers every Thursday.

The decision on maintaining the Tsunami Early Warning Towers every week was taken following the non-functioning of 10 towers in April when earth tremors were reported from some areas.A Ministry spokesman Lal Kumara said these 10 towers had not functioned when an earthquake occurred in the sea off Indonesia.