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Why Was Sri Lanka So Vulnerable
Why Was Sri Lanka So Vulnerable
In the deep water the waves travelled fast but remained shallow however once they hit shallow water they slowed down but started to increase in height
The tsunami reached speeds of up to 800 km/h and heights of up to 30 metres.
The Consequences
Sri Lanka was extremely badly hit by the Tsunami sue to its close proximity to Indonesia. There were over 30,200 deaths, most of which were of the elderly. One and a half million people, around 8% of Sri Lanka's population, were displaced due to their houses being destroyed by the tsunami. Not only was there a high death toll from the tsunami itself, but it has lead to an outbreak in many deadly waterborne diseases such as cholera. Sri Lanka's agriculture has also been severely affected. 259km2 of paddy field have been destroyed and many have been deemed unusable due to the severe destruction or the litter caused by the tsunami, this is extremely bad for a LIC like Sri Lanka, which relies strongly on agriculture as a source of income.
Education:
In Sri Lanka only small population of children attend a school which teaches them about the geographical reasons behind tsunamis, how to spot them and what to do when this occurs. This is true for a large proportion of the population of Sri Lanka, including much of the government, who did not know what to do and how to stay safe once the tsunami hit. No one in Sri Lanka really knew what a tsunami was or how to react to it, back then. When the waves receded, people went out to collect shells, Gamini Hettiarchchi, director general of the islands Disaster Management Centre (DMC) told AlertNet.
Mangrove Clearance:
Because of the recent increase in shrimp farming, man mangroves in Sri Lanka and other part of South-East Asia have been destroyed, offten illegally. This lead to Sri Lanka's coast being at a very high risk due to the fact that mangroves work as a natural defence against tsunamis as they absorb the waves energy. This meant that areas on the coasts without mangroves were affected a lot more than those with mangroves.
East vs West:
East coast was hit first and the worst due to it facing the epicentre of the earthquake The southern coast was hit next, and has a high mortality rate due to it being a tourist 'hotspot' Usually areas with a landmass between them and an earthquake are safe however this earthquake defected around Sri Lanka to the western shore.