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Fateful November 29: Storm brews over warning lapses
Both Dodanduwa and Hikkaduwa fisheries harbours did not receive the official red warning before destructive weather hit on November 29, highlighting serious gaps in Sri Lanka’s early warning system.
Boats berthed in Dodanduwa fisheries harbour after the storm. Pic by Indika Handuwala
Eight fishermen who set out from these harbours died that night, trapped in heavy rains and strong winds. Since the tragedy, however, authorities have been on overdrive with warnings even being announced via loudspeaker. A halogen beacon installed at the edge of the Dodanduwa harbour breakwater to guide fishermen to land in the dark is being fixed after more than two years in disrepair.
Official weather warnings for sea areas are still conveyed to fisheries harbours via facsimile. The Meteorological Department sends the alert to the Department of Fisheries and the Disaster Management Centre (DMC). All three agencies also sometimes independently fax the warning to harbours.
On November 29, nobody sent anything, local authorities said. “I was in office till 6 p.m,” recalled Mithila Vitharanage, Hikkaduwa Harbour Manager. “There was no fax. I checked the machine the next day to make sure it was working,” he told the Sunday Times. “There were other faxes, but no weather warning.”
On Monday, Met Department Director General Sarath Premalal said at a news briefing said fishermen must not venture out to sea from December 5-8 as a low pressure system in the Bay of Bengal could develop into a second depression.
Even this warning officially reached them only on Wednesday (December 6), Mr Vitharanage claimed. But he had conveyed the news to fishermen the previous day, citing newspapers.
There is no indication of a uniform, national process to disseminate warnings to fisherfolk. Mr Vitharanage was previously Manager of the Nilwala Fisheries Harbour in Dickwella. While the Matara District DMC office would fax them any weather warnings for sea areas, this is not done in Hikkaduwa which falls under the Galle District DMC.
Local fisheries associations in Dodanduwa and Hikkaduwa were strongly critical of the warning process. The authorities can not hide behind the argument that warnings were issued through media, said G. N. Ravindra, Dodanduwa Fisheries Harbour Committee President. It was the harbour noticeboard that all fishermen relied on.
The Department of Fisheries categorically rejected accusations that fishermen were not warned. Director General Christy Fernando pointed out that only a mere handful of fishing boats were at sea when the weather hit. This was because the alerts had reached them and most fishermen gave heed.
Over 1,500 multiday fishing trawlers which were at sea in the path of the system were also warned and guided to safety in Indian and Maldivian waters. Only two trawlers fell into distress. One capsised but its crew members were rescued by an Iranian vessel. The other trawler is missing, along with its four-person crew.
But even Mr Fernando admitted there were “issues”. The Met Department warning sent at 2.30 p.m. on November 29 had noted that seas will be rough with wind speeds reaching 70-80kmph. “But there is no detailed description in such warnings of how rough the seas would be,” he said.
The Met Department had asked naval and fishing communities to remain vigilant. “They left it to us to determine whether or not they should leave the harbour,” he emphasized. Fishermen who feed their families by going out to sea need precise statements. Ambiguity does not help.
In November 2015, the Fisheries Department imposed a fishing ban in the South in response to a warning by the Met Department that a chunk of space debris would fall to earth. “Nothing happened and we felt the full wrath of the fishermen,” the Director General recounted. “They even blasted our Department in Church. Such incidents create a tendency among fishermen not to take future warnings seriously.”
“For us, it’s a no-win situation,” Mr Fernando said. “We get criticized either way.”