AJITH SIRIWARDANA 
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Thousands of lives saved as people evacuated well in advance: Minister
Colombo, Dec. 12 (Daily Mirror)- Amidst claims of the opposition that the government failed to act on prior warnings on the disaster situation, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said yesterday people in landslide prone areas were warned well in advance to evacuate by the Disaster Management Centre (DMC), police and security forces, based on forecast of the Meteorology Department, which saved thousands of lives.
He told the weekly briefing to announce Cabinet decisions that some people were reluctant to evacuate thinking that they would not be affected based on their previous experience in the 2017 floods and so on.
“The best example is the situation in Mavil Aru. Those people had to be forcefully removed by the security forces,” he said.
The Minister said the government is on the stance that a mechanism must be in place to remove people in danger zones to safe locations even by force when such warnings are issued to evacuate to save their lives.
Responding to a question, he said the Meteorology Department is way behind in technology when compared to other countries in forecasting weather updates.
“We can’t even forecast weather in a particular district as yet. The Doppler radar is more important in this regard. We are planning to complete installation of the Doppler radar in Puttalam and start operations by 2027,” he said.
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