SRI LANKA: Thousands of villagers on southern and eastern coasts flee their homes after false tsunami warning

By Anthony David
AsiaMedia Contributing Writer

Experts say proper use of the media and disaster management plan could prevent such panic in the future

Wednesday, February 2, 2005

In the south the people yelled, "Duwanna, duwanna!" and in the east, "Odu, odu!" but they all meant the same thing: "Run, run!" Thousands of residents in the Sinhala southern and minority Tamil eastern coastal areas fled their homes in a panic after a false tsunami alarm last Friday, Jan. 28.

Since the tsunami hit the Sri Lankan coastline in December, earthquake aftershocks have caused panic on several occasions, but last week's false alarm was the worst of them.

The panic is said to have been triggered by a Jan. 26 statement made by the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Tissa Vitharana; he said it was possible that a tsunami could hit Sri Lanka within a 10-year period. Local papers covered the statement extensively and rumours began to fly that another tsunami was imminent.

The government made a desperate effort to calm the public and assure them that the tsunami warning was only a rumour. The Inspector General of Police, Chandra Fernando, appeared on state television appealing for calm and warning that rumour mongers would be punished. Simultaneously, Geological Department officials were on television and radio outlets reassuring the public that a tsunami alarm was unwarranted.

Coastal residents, however, say that they did not believe officials on television and the radio who said that the tsunami warning was a false alarm.

"We are not confident of what the government officials tell us when there is a problem," says southern villager Chandrapala Hettiarachchi.

"When the government was blamed for failing to give a warning about the tsunami, they told us there was no warning system available and they could not predict the tsunami. Now, a month later, when people are panicked with this false alarm, they tell us that there isn't a tsunami threat," says English teacher Ruwan Ranasinghe from the southern town of Matara. "How can we believe them?" he asks.

Similar events occurred in neighbouring India; almost a week after the tsunami disaster, mass panic spread as warnings of another tsunami were sounded. The Indian government issued a radio warning after incorrectly interpreting aftershock tremors as powerful enough to trigger a tsunami.

Experts say that the fear caused by the powerful tsunami has created a psychosis which makes it nearly impossible for survivors to distinguish between fact and rumour.

Dr. Athula Sumathipla, a Sri Lankan researcher and clinical psychologist at Kings College in London, is working with tsunami victims. He explains that panic is created easily because people are sensitive to tsunami information.

"People are already hyperaroused -- even with the slightest stimuli, they react disproportionately. Thoughts flow in fast and they act upon it," Sumathipla says.

Sumathipala is, however, optimistic that the media can help control the phenomenon. He says that an ongoing dialogue between psychologists and journalists will help tsunami news move in the right direction. Sumathipla and his colleagues, in sessions organized by the Department of Information, have briefed several media groups about how to handle disaster related information. Sumathipla cautions the press to be sensitve and not to overreact. He says the media should not to report information disproportionate to its actual significance.

"Undoubtedly the media should act with caution, but so far the media has come a long way. They have learned a lot and this is a new situation," Sumathipala says.

Rohan Samarajeewa, former head of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission in Sri Lanka and communications professor from the US, is working with a team of experts and an NGO, Lirnasia, to develop a disaster management plan for Sri Lanka. He says that panic created by the Cabinet minister's utterance "is just the tip of the iceberg." With a proper disaster management system in place, Samarajeewa says, political leaders like Vitharana will no longer give unofficial and unreliable warnings about impending disasters.

"In assessing these communications the context has to be taken in to account. First of all, there isn't a credible source of information which the public could relay. On the other hand if a there is proper disaster management plan, the political leadership will not talk of future tsunamis at this point of time"," Samarajeewa says.

He says that, in addition to source credibility, the message and process of delivery should be well planned. Appropriate wording is important, Samarajeewa says, citing the tornado system as an example.

"Tornado watch is only an alert. You start acting only when a tornado warning is issued," he says.

Properly coded information protocols are a must, says Samarajeewa. The former regulator says that, even after this great disaster, Sri Lanka's disaster warning system has been haphazardly put together, which is far from ideal. Currently, the Sri Lankan government departments have requsted that foreign montering centers pass on information to the relevant departments, without many protocols for what will be done with that informaiton.

Samarajeewa says that there is a need for the public information monitoring system to respond immediately to information and misinformation.

"If there were someone responsible to look into the recent panic incident, it could have been contained before panic spread to the south. It first started on the eastern costal areas and the authorities responded only after pandemonium broke out in the south," says Samarajeewa.

Rumours and panic could have serious implications if the government fails to devise proper communication methods in tackling the problem during the post-tsunami period.

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Anthony David is Deputy Editor (News) of the Sunday Times in Sri Lanka.  He is based in Colombo.

Date Posted: 2/2/2005