Vulnerability assessment and disaster management planning in the coastal area of the Ampara district

Abstract

The coastal area of Ampara district is highly vulnerable for natural hazards as it is located in a topical climate region and facing the bay of Bengal. This area annually affects by climatic hazards such as flood, drought and cyclone. In addition, other types of hazard such as Tsunami also damage this region. The December 2004 Tsunami and November 1978 cyclone severely damaged the livelihood and killed thousands of people in this area within eleven, out of twenty Divisional Secretariat Divisions. The study area of the current research project is the Northern part of the Eastern Coastal belt of Sri Lanka, mainly the coastal belt of the Ampara District. It includes Kalmunai (Tamil Division), Kalmunai (Muslim Division), Sainthamarathu and Karaitivu DS divisions. These four DS divisions were divided into 94 Grama Niladhari divisions.

The objective of this study is to identify the vulnerable areas, evacuation areas and the emergency relocation place and prepare disaster management plan for the selected hazard in the study area. Primary data were collected directly by observation and interviews and secondary data were collected from different sources. The collected data were analyzed using GIS technology.

Based on the data and analysis, the vulnerability areas, evacuation areas and the emergency relocation places, were identified and mapped out for the selected disasters. The disaster management plans were developed for the study area as mitigation measures for these disasters.