Summary UNU-EHS vulnerability study: measuring revealed vulnerability in Sri Lanka at the local level

The UNU-EHS study deals with the development and testing of different methodologies to identify and measure the pre-existing and emergent vulnerability (revealed vulnerability) of coastal communities in Sri Lanka to tsunami and coastal hazards. The study noted that females were more vulnerable to the tsunami then males. Single-story buildings were more vulnerable then multi-story buildings, particularly in the first 100 meters from the sea. Additionally, the study reveals a better recovery potential of households in Galle then in Batticaloa. While for example around 25 percent of the household captured within the survey in Galle need more than 2 years to replace their housing damage, the same category counts for Batticaloa nearly 60 percent. Thus the households in Batticaloa face higher difficulties than in Galle in terms of bouncing back to normal conditions. This might also be a result of the devastating conflict in the region for the past 20 years. This summary is based on research undertaken within the joint project of UNU-EHS, the University of Colombo, University of Ruhuna, Eastern University and the German Space Agency and the Center for Development Research (ZEF), with financial support from UN/ISDR-PPEW.