The resilience to natural disasters that take place in the country is at a satisfactory level, as it is now common feature in the lives of the people, a Geologist said.
“Measures to control natural disasters should be in place. We need not wait until a disaster occurs to take action and prevention is the best way to tackle the issue,” University of Peradeniya, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science Prof. Athula Seneratne said.
There should be a mechanism to reduce water levels when there is high rain fall. “The country has experienced this type of rain patterns in the past and we were not affected badly as at present. Therefore, we need to look at the problem with innovative thinking,” he said.
Rainfall in the past was similar and there was no change in the rain fall at present. The difference is that people in the past were able to manage the water levels and avoided a flood situation. “If we can arrest the excess water to one or two places we will be able to control the floods,” he said.
“The large tanks used for irrigation purposes can be use to control water levels. We used water in a practical manner in the past and had better control in water management. As 50 percent of the tanks are full there is no capacity to retain water. We need to make these tanks hold more water and use them in the dry spell,” he said. The country has giant canals and we could make use of these to control floods. If we can use 20 to 30 of these giant canals as water retaining structures from one area to another, then these canals can hold more water. This measure will restrict water submerging an entire area and avoid high water levels, he said.
“One of the reasons for floods can be attributed as the mismanagement of irrigation system. We need to restore the canals and clean them to hold more water and arrest the high level of water. This will be the ultimate solution to floods in the Western Province. Irrigation-wise these are the basic facts.
“The partial filling of the wetlands in and around Colombo is another reason for the floods. The lagoons are now been filled up and marshy lands are gone. If we can retain these places for the excess water to flow into it will reduce flooding,” he said.