FIELD INVESTIGATION OF THE FLOOD DISASTER IN SOUTH-WEST AREA OF SRI LANKA OCURRED IN MAY 2003

Abstract

In the southwest of Sri Lanka, a heavy flood occurred on 17-18 May in 2003, which caused severe river inundations and landslides in a wide area. About 300 persons were killed, and houses, farm products and infrastructures were heavily damaged. In order to investigate this flood and sediment disaster from the hydrological and hydraulic aspects, the committee on Hydroscience and Hydraulic Engineering, Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) delegated its members whose major are hydrology, hydraulic engineering and river engineering as a flood investigation team by JSCE. In this paper, results of the field investigation are shown for three river basins in Sri Lanka that were severely damaged by flood and landslide disaster induced by the heavy rainfall.