Sri Lanka has experienced some of the worst natural disasters in its history over the past two decades and is highly vulnerable to extreme weather and climate-related events.
The Indian Ocean tsunami, triggered by a massive undersea earthquake off Indonesia on 26 December 2004, claimed more than 30,000 lives in Sri Lanka and displaced thousands of people. The disaster prompted the country to strengthen its disaster management framework, early warning systems, and emergency response mechanisms.
Cyclone Ditwah, which hit Sri Lanka in late November 2025, caused large-scale damage to homes, public property, and essential services. The health sector was among the worst affected. The disaster highlighted the growing impact of climate-related events on Sri Lanka and highlighted the need to build more resilient infrastructure while strengthening disaster preparedness – especially in power, telecommunications, and health services.
Strengthening disaster communication
The Ministry of Health and Mass Media, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), conducted a Sectoral Dialogue on Strengthening Disaster Preparedness Communication and Information Integrity in Colombo, aimed at capturing the practical experience and challenges faced by media institutions in assessing, verifying, and disseminating disaster-related information last week.
The last day of the workshop (26 June) was aimed at gathering all views to place them before the invited Government officials to discuss these issues, identify the gaps from the media perspective, and look at how these shortcomings can be addressed in order to move forward in a better-prepared manner.
Resource person Nalaka Gunawardene said that accurate information and clear public guidance during a disaster were as important as the emergency response itself, as the media played a crucial role in influencing public behaviour, evacuation decisions, and preparedness.
He added that effective disaster response required a close link between the three ‘Rs’ of disaster management – Rescue, Relief, and Recovery – and the five ‘Ws’ and the ‘H’ followed by journalists: Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How.
Gunawardene further explained that the three stages of disaster management represented the immediate, medium, and long-term actions taken during a crisis, involving Government institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), local communities, and international support.
“With changing climatic conditions, population expansion, and increasing natural disasters, Sri Lanka has to face the growing impact of floods, landslides, cyclones, and possible future effects of climate-related events,” he said. He noted that Sri Lanka was still recovering from the impact of Cyclone Ditwah, while stressing the need for better coordination between policymakers, disaster management authorities, and the media.
A resource person representing the Rebuilding Sri Lanka Presidential Task Force and the UNDP highlighted that disaster communication should begin before an event occurred through awareness programmes and preparedness measures.
She noted that real-time emergency warnings were essential, referring to the situation during Cyclone Ditwah, where authorities monitored increasing water levels in reservoirs and rivers due to heavy rainfall. “Warnings were issued when water levels increased, but there were certain areas where guidance was lacking,” she highlighted.
The consensus was that informing people about an approaching flood was only one part of disaster communication. “If people are told to leave their homes, they also need to know where they should go and what the next step is,” Gunawardene opined, stressing the importance of coordination between authorities such as the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) and the media.
The role of the media
Journalists pointed out that post-disaster recovery communication was another important area that was often overlooked. Referring to the 2004 tsunami, they noted that recovery could take days, weeks, months, or even years. During all stages – rescue, relief, and recovery – the media becomes a critical link as people depend on information during uncertain situations, according to Gunawardene.
While the media has the ability to influence public behaviour, encourage timely evacuation, and help communities make decisions during emergencies, he stressed that this responsibility had to be based on verified and trusted information.
During disasters, misinformation and rumours can spread rapidly, as people search for information due to fear and uncertainty. Unverified information, he warned, could increase panic and create further risks.
The need for media organisations to prioritise information from verified sources, scientific data, and official authorities while avoiding speculation was highlighted. “In a disaster situation, the role of the media becomes a lifeline, helping to save lives and minimise harm through responsible communication,” a resource person who joined the discussion said.
It was acknowledged that sometimes a risk or threat was presented as being much bigger than it actually was, causing unnecessary panic. As a result, the actions people take can create an additional crisis on top of the existing disaster.
Attention was drawn to the issue of misleading videos and images shared on social media. During disasters, videos of floods, landslides, and other incidents from different countries are often circulated as if they happened locally, creating panic.
Gunawardene said that one of the main priorities of the media should be identifying false information. “If the media finds that information being circulated is inaccurate, it has the responsibility and ability to inform the public that such information is not correct.”
A senior journalist highlighted certain incidents which had occurred during Cyclone Ditwah, where disaster-related alerts/messaging requiring life-saving action, be it by the Department of Meteorology, National Building Research Organisation (NBRO), or Department of Irrigation, was sometimes available only in Sinhala and not in English or Tamil.
This was noted as a key failing, especially in relation to those at risk in the hill country when Cyclone Ditwah hit landfall, with the gap in communication resulting in delays of hours. Tamil-speaking people may not have got the message and the casualty rates were high in the hill country, which was badly affected. Therefore, the need for a proper communications protocol, with trilingual messaging, was flagged as an important lesson to be taken up.
It was also emphasised that the media should get accurate information and disseminate it effectively to the public, highlighting the need for a better-resourced public communication mechanism with the DMC and the and other line ministries and agencies. This includes having an available spokesman and the reinforcement of an information handling desk at the DMC and at lower levels of Government – perhaps at District Secretariat level – with trained and better resourced personnel and funds.
A whole-of-Govt. approach needed
It was further proposed that the DMC should maintain a data board similar to that which was available to the media during the Covid-19 pandemic. The DMC should maintain an emergency situation data board which is permanently available on its website, depending on the situation. Updates should be made hourly, especially during a crisis situation, providing the media with a ready source to go to without attempting to contact a spokesman for information.
The UNDP, along with State agencies, is moving to build awareness about disaster preparedness, resilience, and management. To prevent climate change-related tragedies like Cyclone Ditwah and manmade disasters from having a significant impact in the future, Sri Lanka needs a whole-of-Government approach, supported by all communities.