Attention: His Excellency Anura Kumara Dissanayake – Kotmale Dam – Gate Opening – HasMahaweli Authority made a mistake or not? Is there something wrong in the system
Posted on December 9th, 2025
Bandula Kendaragama
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Attention: His Excellency Anura Kumara Dissanayake – Kotmale Dam – Gate Opening – Has Mahaweli Authority made a mistake or not? Is there something wrong in the system Your Excellency,
Could you please pass this information to His Excellency the President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
I was attached to the CECB and worked in the construction of the dam from 1980 to 1985. I am a dam safety engineer with 48-years’ experience (and worked in 12 Countries). A copy of my CV is attached for your kind perusal. As I understand, the Dam Safety Emergency Management Plan (DSEMP) of the Kotmale Dam is very brief, the inundation plan is very small, not adequate to identify the villages likely to be inundated.
As soon as the decision was made to open the gates, the Mahaweli Authority and Disaster Management Centre should have notified the people in the potential inundation area Nowadays, almost all people are using Mobile Phones.
Therefore, the Govt should make an order to notify the people living in potential inundation areas to provide their Mobile numbers to the Disaster Management Centre. Then, the DMC should create a database of names and mobile numbers of all people living and working in the potential inundation areas. Then, the Disaster Management Centre can send SMSs (text and voice messages) to all people living in the potential inundation areas within minutes. In addition, in my view, social media SHOULD be used to disseminate this message.
This procedure is applicable to all emergency situations such as evacuation of population centres such as townships, hospitals, schools etc.,
If anyone needs more information on evacuation plans, please contact me on +61403204066. Your faithfully,