"I will give priority to taking preventive measures. Cabinet approval has already been granted for a project to be implemented next year at a cost of US $ 50 million to minimize landslides" Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera told the Daily News in an interview.
"Now the country has a 24-hour disaster monitoring system which is connected to international sources. The Met Department is also working 24 hours. Now there is a proper mechanism to be vigilant on tsunamis and other disasters. Therefore people can sleep peacefully without fearing for their lives. Earlier if our Met Department says there will be rain we got dry weather and if it says we will have dry weather we got rain. Now this situation has been changed to a certain extent. We need to upgrade it to international standards and it will be done next year. Cabinet approval has already been granted for this project."