Kantale Dam Breach Revisited: Part 2 of 2

There are approximately 320 medium and large dams in Sri Lanka and over 10,000 small dams, most of which were built more than 1,000 years ago. The consequences of a major dam failure in Sri Lanka can be devastating to life, property and the environment.

It happened on 20 April 1986 when the ancient Kantale dam, 50 feet high and over 13,000 feet long, breached. Its waters rapidly flooded several villages downstream, killing 127 people and destroying over 1,600 houses and paddy lands. This video revisits the scene 19 years later to gather memories and opinions of the affected people and engineers involved.

The video was part of a 2005 study on dam safety by LIRNEasia, Vanguard Foundation, Sri Lanka National Committee of Large Dams and Sarvodaya. Its final report asked: if there were to be a catastrophic dam failure in Sri Lanka today, is there a warning system in place to detect the failure and issue timely warnings? Have the downstream communities participated in evacuation drills and know what action needs to be taken when a warning is issued? [Full report at http://tiny.cc/DamSafe]

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Agriculture
• Dams & Irrigation
• Disasters
• Irrigation
• Water resources
• Kantale dam
• Kantale disaster
• LIRNEasia
• Vanguard Foundation
• Sarvodaya

[bkjaya1952]

To avoid this type of failures

1.Reservoirs should be owned , maintained,and regulated by the State(should not be privertise. A good example is the recent radio active disaster in Japan. The construction of the atomic power plant was sub standard to maximise the profit of the private company who owns the power plant.)

2.Engineering judgement an decisions should not be manipulated by politicians

3.disaster vulnerability assessments and risk zoning

4.Allocating sufficient funds for maintenance