{"id":244561,"date":"2025-11-30T03:58:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T22:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=244561"},"modified":"2025-12-12T15:06:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T09:36:37","slug":"the-power-trap-did-cyclone-ditwah-expose-the-governments-inexperience-or-a-misuse-of-emergency-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/the-power-trap-did-cyclone-ditwah-expose-the-governments-inexperience-or-a-misuse-of-emergency-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power Trap: Did Cyclone Ditwah Expose The Government’s Inexperience Or A Misuse Of Emergency Law?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Murali Vallipuranathan<\/a>\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Murali Vallipuranathan<\/p><\/div>\n

The recent declaration of a National Emergency<\/b> following the devastation of Cyclone Ditwah, which tragically claimed around 160 lives<\/b>, has raised a critical question: Was this a necessary and proportionate response to a natural disaster, or does it signify a broader lack of experience in crisis governance? A critical examination of Sri Lanka\u2019s disaster history suggests the latter.<\/p>\n

A Disproportionate Declaration<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka is no stranger to catastrophic natural events. Yet, the official response to Ditwah stands in stark contrast to previous, more severe natural calamities.<\/p>\n

Consider the 2017 floods and landslides<\/b>, triggered by Cyclone Mora, which resulted in a confirmed death toll of 224 lives<\/b>. Similarly, the devastating 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami<\/b> caused approximately 35,000 fatalities<\/b> in Sri Lanka. In both these tragic instances, the government did not declare a “National Emergency.” Instead, they relied on a “National Disaster Situation”<\/b> or similar declarations, appropriate for large-scale relief and recovery efforts.<\/p>\n

Why, then, was the more powerful legal tool of a National Emergency\u2014a declaration usually reserved for the most profound civil and security threats\u2014deployed for an event with a comparatively lower casualty count? The fact that even the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic<\/b>, which claimed nearly 17,000 lives<\/b>, was managed with police curfews under the Quarantine Ordinance, and not a full National Emergency, deepens this paradox.<\/p>\n

Emergency Powers: Security vs. Storms<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Historically, the National Emergency declaration in Sri Lanka has been synonymous with safeguarding law and order<\/b> and preventing civil unrest.<\/p>\n

Recent triggers for this declaration include:<\/p>\n

* The July 2022 economic crisis<\/b>, where security forces were needed to quell nationwide protests and maintain order.<\/p>\n

* The 2019 Easter Sunday bombings<\/b>, where the threat of escalated terrorism and communal violence was imminent.<\/p>\n

* The March 2018 communal violence in Kandy<\/b>, which required swift security mobilization to prevent the spread of riots.<\/p>\n

In these situations, the declaration was essential to activate the military, impose curfews, and assume special powers to control a volatile social or political situation. A cyclone, by nature, is a matter of rescue, relief, and rebuilding. The decision to treat a weather event like an insurrection suggests a fundamental misunderstanding, or perhaps a political misuse, of the emergency mechanism.<\/p>\n

Inexperience and Media Exaggeration<\/b><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The use of a National Emergency for a disaster that is comparatively less serious<\/b> than previous natural catastrophes points towards potential inexperience of the present government in handling disaster situations<\/b>. It implies that they felt the need to invoke the maximum possible executive power simply to manage the logistics of a storm, a task that should fall under the purview of established disaster management agencies and civil administration, without the blanket imposition of emergency rule.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the declaration was amplified by significant media hype<\/b>. Sensationalized reporting, including the outright blatant lie<\/b> that Cyclone Ditwah was the “second major disaster after the tsunami,” not only ignores the more damaging 2017 floods but also distorts the true scale of the crisis. Such exaggeration can create unnecessary panic, distract from the real needs of the affected communities, and ultimately dilute the gravity of genuine national emergencies.<\/p>\n

The Ditwah disaster exposed not just vulnerability to nature, but a disjointed and disproportionate response from the highest level of government, overshadowed by sensationalized reporting. The focus must now shift from political optics to establishing clear, measured, and appropriate protocols for future natural disasters.<\/p>\n

*Dr. Murali Vallipuranathan is a visiting lecturer at the Universities of Jaffna, Peradeniya, and Colombo, a Senior Specialist of the Ministry of Health, and a Council Member of the Sri Lanka Medical Association. The opinions expressed in this article are claimed by the author with social responsibility, aimed at improving disaster management in Sri Lanka, and do not in any way reflect his official positions.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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