Earthquake

. Articles about Sri Lanka`s current defence status. A recently proposed theory suggests that some earthquakes may occur in a sort of earthquake storm, where one earthquake will trigger a series of earthquakes each triggered by the previous shifts on the fault lines, similar to aftershocks, but occurring years later. Statistics on Civilians Affected by War in Northeast 1974-2004 A Full Report in 11 pages. These oscillations of the earth are either due to the deformation of the Earth by tide caused by the Moon or the Sun, or other phenomena. A cease-fire was declared in 2002, but renewed violence in late 2005 led to fears of a renewed civil war.
Another type of movement of the Earth is observed by terrestrial spectroscopy. It is estimated that the war has left 65,000 people dead since 1983 and caused great harm to the population and economy of the country.

Earthquakes such as these, that are caused by human activity, are referred to by the term induced seismicity. Since 1983, there has been on-and-off civil war, mostly between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or the LTTE, who want to create an independent Tamil Eelam state in the northeast of the island. Thus scientists have been able to monitor, using the tools of seismology, nuclear weapons tests performed by governments that were not disclosing information about these tests along normal channels. The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is an ongoing conflict between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils on the island-nation of Sri Lanka. Finally, ground shaking can also result from the detonation of explosives. See Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Earthquakes have also been known to be caused by the removal of natural gas from subsurface deposits, for instance in the northern Netherlands. While Islam and Christianity (including 6% Catholics and 1% Protestants) represent 8% and 7% of the population respectively.

Such earthquakes occur because the strength of the Earth's crust can be modified by fluid pressure. Buddhism (69%) and Hinduism (15.5%) are the dominant religions. at certain geothermal power plants and at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal). Smaller minorities include (mostly Sunni) Muslims (7%), mostly of mixed Arab, Persian, Tamil and Sinhalese origins and Malay descent, Burghers of mixed European descent (1%) and the Wanniyala-Aetto or Veddahs, the few remaining descendants of earlier cultures. A rare few earthquakes have been associated with the build-up of large masses of water behind dams, such as the Kariba Dam in Zambia, Africa, and with the injection or extraction of fluids into the Earth's crust (e.g. All three languages are used in education and administration. Some earthquakes are also caused by the movement of magma in volcanoes, and such quakes can be an early warning of volcanic eruptions. English, the link language in the present constitution, is spoken competently by about 10% of the population, and is widely understood.

Deep focus earthquakes, at depths of 100's km, are possibly generated as subducted lithospheric material catastrophically undergoes a phase transition since at the pressures and temperatures present at such depth elastic strain cannot be supported. Both Sinhala and Tamil are official languages. Eventually when enough stress accumulates, the plates move, causing an earthquake. Tamils comprise two communities: Native Tamils and more recent immigrants from India called as Indian Origin Tamils. Where these plates meet stress accumulates. Tamils constitute 18%, are predominantly Hindu, and live mostly in the north, east and central provinces. The Earth is made up of tectonic plates driven by the heat in the Earth's mantle and core. About 74% of Sri Lankans are Sinhalese, most of them Buddhist, mostly following the Theravada tradition.

Most earthquakes are powered by the release of the elastic strain that accumulate over time, typically, at the boundaries of the plates that make up the Earth's lithosphere via a process called Elastic-rebound theory. Assimilation and intermixing has produced a group of people who are marginaly different from each other irrespective of current racial claims. For example it has been calculated that the average recurrence for the United Kingdom can be described as follows:. Racial identities in Sri Lanka do not represent the genetic heritage. Larger earthquakes occur less frequently than smaller earthquakes, the relationship being exponential, ie roughly ten times as many earthquakes larger than 4 occur in a particular time period than earthquakes larger than magnitude 5. In December 2005, Sri Lanka received its first international credit rating with Fitch Ratings assigning it a BB- (a rating held by Brazil and Indonesia among others). As a result the moment magnitude (M_W) scale was introduced by Hiroo Kanamori, which is comparable to the other magnitude scales but will not saturate at higher values. A September 2005 IMF report called for an end to 'fiscal domination' of monetary policy and more independence for the Central Bank so that inflation could be contained.

The values of moments for different earthquakes ranges over several order of magnitude. The tsunami helped stabilize the deterioration of macro-economic fundamentals as foreign debt relief and assistance from the International Monetary Fund strengthened both the external sector and fiscal operations. The seismic moment is calculated from seismograms but can also by obtained from geologic estimates of the size of the fault rupture and the displacement. But GDP growth, which had climbed to 6.4% by the first quarter of 2004 had fallen to 4.8% by the first quarter of 2005. Seismologists now favor a measure called the seismic moment, related to the concept of moment in physics, to measure the size of a seismic source. The December 26th Tsunami brought aidflows, and support from the IMF helped improve sentiment in the foreign exchange market. They are still useful however as they can be rapidly calculated, there are catalogues of them dating back many years and are they are familiar to the public. By December 2004, the country was heading for a balance of payments crisis, as the currency depreciated and reserves dwindled.

However as each is also based on the measurement of one part of the seismogram they do not measure the overall power of the source and can suffer from saturation at higher magnitude values (larger events fail to produce higher magnitude values).These scales are also empirical and as such there is no physical meaning to the values. The expansionary fiscal policy, coupled with loose monetary policy eventually drove inflation up to 18% by January 2005, as measured by the Sri Lanka Consumer Price Index. Each of these is scaled to gives values similar to the values given by the Richter scale. To finance the expanded budget deficit arising from a range of subsidies and a public sector recruitment drive, the government eventually had to print Rs 65 bn (US$ 650 mn) or around 3% of GDP. Other more recent Magnitude measurements include: body wave magnitude (m_b), surface wave magnitude (M_s) and duration magnitude (M_D). In 2004 alone Sri Lanka spent approximately US$ 180 mn on a fuel subsidy, as fixing fuel prices was an election promise. It is obtained by measuring the maximum amplitude of a recording on a Wood-Anderson torsion seismometer (or one calibrated to it) at a distance of 600km from the earthquake. But this policy of subsidizing imported commodities like fuel, fertilizer and wheat, soon unravelled the fiscal sector.

This is known as the “Richter scale”, “Richter Magnitude” or “Local Magnitude” (M_L). Its main theme to support the rural and suburban SMEs and protect the domestic economy from external influences, such as oil prices, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Richter devised a simple numerical scale (which he called the magnitude) to describe the relative sizes of earthquakes in Southern California. The new government stopped the privatization of state enterprises, reforms of state utilities such as power and petroleum and embarked on an unprecedented subsidy program called the Rata Perata economic program. In the 1930s, a California seismologist named Charles F. In April 2004, there was a sharp reversal in economic policy after the government headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe from the United National Party was defeated by a coalition made up of Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the left-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna called the United People's Freedom Alliance. The first attempt to qualitatively define one value to describe the size of earthquakes was the magnitude scale (the name being taking from similar formed scales used on the brightness of stars). The Colombo stock exchange reported the highest growth in Asia for 2003, and today Sri Lanka has the highest per capita income in South Asia.

If you feel an earthquake in the US you can report the effects to the USGS. Signs of recovery appeared after the government and the LTTE signed the 2002 ceasefire. For some tasks related to engineering and local planning it is still useful for the very same reasons and thus still collected. 2001 saw the first economic contraction in the country's history, due to a combination of power shortages, budgetary problems, the global slowdown, and continuing civil strife. The problem with these scales is the measurement is subjective, often based on the worst damage in an area and influenced by local effects like site conditions that make it a poor measure for the relative size of different events in different places. The economy rebounded in 1997-2000, with average growth of 5.3%. No structural damage. The GDP grew at an average annual rate of 5.5% during the early 1990s, until a drought and a deteriorating security situation lowered growth to 3.8% in 1996.

Damage is slight in poorly built buildings. By 1996, plantation crops made up only 20% of exports (compared with 93% in 1970), while textiles and garments 63%. Trees and bushes shake. While tea and rubber are still important, the most dynamic sectors are now food processing, textiles and apparel, food and beverages, telecommunications, insurance, and banking. Plaster in walls might crack. From independence, till 1977, it was a strongly socialist economy but since then it has been increasingly pursuing privatization, market-oriented policies and export-oriented trade. Furniture moves. Sri Lanka is historically famous for its cinnamon and tea (introduced by the British in the 19th century).

Pictures fall off walls. See Endemic Birds of the Indian Subcontinent for more information. Objects fall from shelves. Sri Lanka is a centre of bird endemism. People have trouble walking. The island has three biosphere reserves, Hurulu (established 1977), Sinharaja (established 1978), and Kanneliya-Dediyagala-Nakiyadeniya (KDN) (established 2004). Everyone feels movement. Several preserves have been established to protect some of Sri Lanka's remaining natural areas.

The value 6 (normally denoted "VI") in the MM scale for example is:. These forests have been largely cleared for agriculture, timber or grazing, and many of the dry evergreen forests have been degraded to thorn scrub, savanna, or thickets. These assign a numeric value (different for each scale) to a location based on the size of the shaking experienced there. The Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion, which, like the neighboring East Deccan dry evergreen forests of India's Coromandel Coast, is characterized by evergreen trees, rather than the dry-season deciduous trees that predominate in most other tropical dry broadleaf forests. In the United States the Mercalli (or Modified Mercalli, MM) scale is commonly used, while Japan (shindo) and the EU (European Macroseismic Scale) each have their own scales. The north and east are considerably drier, lying in the rain shadow of the central highlands. The first method of quantifying earthquakes was intensity scales. Both these tropical moist forest ecoregions are very similar to those of India's Western Ghats.

Earthquakes that occur below sea level and have large vertical displacements can give rise to tsunamis, either as a direct result of the deformation of the sea bed due to the earthquake or as a result of submarine landslips or "slides" directly or indirectly triggered by it. At higher elevations they transition to the Sri Lanka montane rain forests. Just as a large loudspeaker can produce a greater volume of sound than a smaller one, large faults are capable of higher magnitude earthquakes than smaller faults are. The southwest, where the influence of the moisture-bearing southwest monsoon is strongest, is home to the Sri Lanka lowland rain forests. The total size of the fault that slips, the rupture zone, can be as large as 1000 km, for the biggest earthquakes. Its forests are among the most floristically rich in Asia and for some faunal groups, it has the world's highest density of species diversity. The location on the surface directly above the hypocenter is known as the "epicenter". Sri Lanka is one of the world's bio-diversity hot-spots.

That point is called its "focus" or "hypocenter" and usually proves to be the point at which the fault slip was initiated. Other major cities include Jaffna, Galle, and Kandy. Using such ground motion records from around the world it is possible to identify a point from which the earthquake's seismic waves appear to originate. The commercial capital is Colombo, but the administrative and legislative capital is at nearby Sri Jayewardanapura (Kotte). The Rayleigh waves from the Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake of 2004 caused ground motion of over 1 cm even at the seismometers that were located far from it, although this displacement was abnormally large. The lowest gravitational field on Earth lies just off the coast of Sri Lanka. Ground motions caused by very distant earthquakes are called teleseisms. The climate is tropical, characterized by monsoons: the northeast monsoon lasts from December to March, the southwest June to October.

The power of an earthquake is distributed over a significant area, but in the case of large earthquakes, it can spread over the entire planet. Amongst these are Sri Pada and the highest point Pidurutalagala (also known as Mt Pedro), at 2,524 m. While almost all earthquakes have aftershocks, foreshocks are far less common occurring in only about 10% of events. The pear-shaped island consists mostly of flat-to-rolling coastal plains, with mountains rising only in the south-central part. Most large earthquakes are accompanied by other, smaller ones, that can occur either before or after the principal quake — these are known as foreshocks or aftershocks, respectively. According to temple records, this natural causeway was formerly complete, but was breached by a violent storm (probably a cyclone) in 1480. S-waves (secondary or shear waves) and the two types of surfaces waves (Love waves and Rayleigh waves) are responsible for the shaking hazard. Often referred to as Adam's Bridge, it is now mostly submerged, with only a chain of limestone shoals remaining above sea level.

There are four types of seismic waves that are all generated simultaneously and can be felt on the ground. According to Hindu mythology, a land bridge to the Indian mainland, known as Rama's Bridge, was constructed during the time of Rama. In a particular earthquake, any of these agents of damage can dominate, and historically each has caused major damage and great loss of life, but for most of the earthquakes shaking is the dominant and most widespread cause of damage. It is separated from the Indian subcontinent by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. liquefaction, landslide), and fire or a release of hazardous materials. The island of Sri Lanka lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal. Large earthquakes can cause serious destruction and massive loss of life through a variety of agents of damage, including fault rupture, vibratory ground motion (i.e., shaking), inundation (e.g., tsunami, seiche, dam failure), various kinds of permanent ground failure (e.g.
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Some deep earthquakes may be due to the transition of olivine to spinel, which is more stable in the deep mantle. Sri Lanka consists of 8 provinces:. At subduction zones where plates descend into the mantle, earthquakes have been recorded to a depth of 600 km, although these deep earthquakes are caused by different mechanisms than the more common shallow events. See also: Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2004. Where the crust is thicker and colder they will occur at greater depths and the opposite in areas that are hot. At the close of 2005, deep political unease and suspicion remained between the two factions. Most earthquakes occur in narrow regions around plate boundaries down to depths of a few tens of kilometres where the crust is rigid enough to support the elastic strain. But these hopes were dashed by almost immediate accusations of bias and favouritism on the part of international aid agencies from both sides.

Large numbers of earthquakes occur on a daily basis on Earth, but the majority of them are detected only by seismometers and cause no damage . There were high hopes that the devastating Tsunami of December 2004 would force the government and Tamil rebels into a new, lasting dialogue to address the serious effects of the disaster on Sri Lanka as a whole. . The LTTE boycotted the election, thereby preventing thousands of Tamils from voting, and so Wickremasinghe from taking power, whose election promises included a Federal state to the North and East. Seismic waves including some strong enough to be felt by humans can also be caused by explosions (chemical or nuclear), landslides, and collapse of old mine shafts, though these sources are not strictly earthquakes. His narrow victory was engineered by the the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who want Tamil Eelam to be an independent country. Most earthquakes are tectonic, but they also occur in volcanic regions and as the result of a number of anthropogenic sources, such as reservoir induced seismicity, mining and the removal or injection of fluids into the crust. Rajapaksa offers less autonomy than Wickremasinghe to the northeast, home to most of Sri Lanka's 3.2 million ethnic Tamils.

Earthquakes related to plate tectonics are called tectonic earthquakes. He was previously Prime Minister in 2000. Events located at plate boundaries are called interplate earthquakes; the less frequent events that occur in the interior of the lithospheric plates are called intraplate earthquakes (see, for example, New Madrid Seismic Zone). Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was appointed the 22nd Prime Minister on November 21, 2005, to fill the post vacated by Rajapaksa. The highest stress (and possible weakest zones) are most often found at the boundaries of the tectonic plates and hence these locations are where the majority of earthquakes occur. Rajapaksa took oath as President on November 19, 2005. Earthquakes occur where the stress resulting from the differential motion of these plates exceeds the strength of the crust. The Election was held on November 17, 2005, and Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected the fifth Executive President of Sri Lanka with a 50.29% of valid votes, compared to Ranil Wickremesinghe's 48.43%.

The Earth's lithosphere is a patch work of plates in slow but constant motion (see plate tectonics). Mahinda Rajapaksa was nominated the SLFP candidate and former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe UNP candidate. The word earthquake is also widely used to indicate the source region itself. In August 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that Presidential Elections would be held in November 2005, resolving a long-running dispute on the length of President Kumaratunga's term. Earthquakes typically result from the movement of faults, planar zones of deformation within the Earth's upper crust. Elections were held on April 02 and the new Parliament convened on April 23 and elected Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister. Earthquakes result from the dynamic release of elastic strain energy that radiates seismic waves. Parliament was dissolved on February 07, 2004 by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

An earthquake is a sudden and sometimes catastrophic movement of a part of the Earth's surface. Since its independence in 1948, Sri Lanka has remained a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Lake Tanganyika earthquake (2005). Parliament reserves the power to make all laws. Many more at risk from the Kashmiri winter. The president may summon, suspend, or end a legislative session and dissolve parliament any time after it has served for one year. Killed over 79,000 people. The primary modification is that the party that receives the largest number of valid votes in each constituency gains a unique "bonus seat" (see Hickman, 1999).

Kashmir earthquake (2005). Members are elected by universal (adult) suffrage based on a modified proportional representation system by district to a six-year term. Fukuoka earthquake (2005). The Sri Lankan Parliament is a unicameral 225-member legislature. Sumatran Earthquake (2005). The President's deputy is the Prime Minister, who leads the ruling party in Parliament. Triggered a tsunami which caused nearly 300,000 deaths spanning several countries. The President appoints and heads a Cabinet of Ministers responsible to Parliament.

Epicenter off the coast of the Indonesian island Sumatra. The incumbent may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of Parliament, with the agreement by the Supreme Court. One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded at 9.0. The President is responsible to Parliament for the exercise of duties in accordance with the Constitution and laws. Indian Ocean Earthquake (2004). The President of the Republic is directly elected for a six-year term and serves as Head of State, Head of Government and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Chuetsu Earthquake (2004). It was rumored that the LTTE themselves did the killing.

Not large (6.0), but the most anticipated and intensely instrumented earthquake ever recorded and likely to offer insights into predicting future earthquakes elsewhere on similar slip-strike fault structures. In December 2005, following a brutal gang rape and murder of a Tamil woman (Ilayathambi Tharsini)(such incidents have happened before, including Krishanti Kumaraswamy), restive civilian groups likely encouraged and controlled by the LTTE carried out a series of attacks against Government forces in the North and East, and some unknown forces assassinated a pro-LTTE Tamil politician on Christmas eve in a Catholic church. Parkfield, California earthquake (2004). It has been alleged that only 17% of the relief aid has been spent on what it was intended for. Bam Earthquake (2003). Several Sinhala nationalist groups in the South challenged this pact and the Supreme Court declared that some articles of the pact were unconstitutional. Dudley Earthquake (2002). On June 24, 2005, the Government signed the Post Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS), a legal instrument for the Government to share aid with the LTTE.

Gujarat Earthquake (2001). Over 40,000 people died on the island and many more are still missing. Nisqually Earthquake (2001). On December 26, 2004, an earthquake off the western coast of Sumatra created tsunamis that washed over the Eastern and Southern coasts of Sri Lanka. Chi-Chi earthquake (1999). In April 2004, the Government of Ranil Wickramasinghe was ousted from Parliament and a coalition including several Sinhala nationalist groups opposed to negotiations with LTTE came to power. Düzce earthquake (1999). No significant progress has been made to date.

İzmit earthquake (1999) Killed over 17,000 in northwestern Turkey. LTTE negotiators proposed an Interim Self Governing Authority, but the Government's response did not satisfy LTTE, and the peace process paused in late 2003. Killed over 6,400 people in and around Kobe, Japan. 6 rounds of direct talks were held in several locations around the world, but no substantial steps were taken towards a political settlement to the conflict. Great Hanshin earthquake (1995). In early 2002 both the LTTE and the Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding and entered into a joint ceasefire. Damage showed seismic resistance deficiencies in modern low-rise apartment construction. At the end of 2001 a new Parliament was elected and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe declared a ceasefire, responding to the LTTE which had declared a ceasefire in December 2001.

Northridge, California earthquake (1994). During her re-election rally, a suicide bomber killed 10 people, missing Kumaratunge. Revealed necessity of accelerated seismic retrofit of road and bridge structures. In December 2000 President Kumaratunge was re-elected for her second term. Severely affecting Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Oakland in California. This was the first time the country's cricket team had won the Cricket World Cup tournament. Loma Prieta earthquake (1989). In 1996 Sri Lanka became world champions in Cricket.

Killed over 25,000. Both the Sri Lanka Army and LTTE stood accused of gross human rights vioaltions including abduction, torture and extrajudicial executions during the conflict. Armenian earthquake (1988). By the mid 1990s, LTTE controlled much of the North and had set up a de facto state. Whittier Narrows earthquake (1987). Her initial attempts to negotiate with the LTTE failed and the war in the north and east continued with heavy casualties to sides. 8.1 on the Richter Scale, killed over 6,500 people (though it is believed as many as 30,000 may have died, due to missing people never reappearing.). In 1994 Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, daughter of two previous Prime Ministers, was elected President.

Great Mexican Earthquake (1985). In 1993 Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed in a similar manner during a May Day celebration in Colombo. The official death toll was 255,000, but many experts believe that two or three times that number died. In 1991 a LTTE suicide bomber killed former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in retaliation for the IPKF and the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. The most destructive earthquake of modern times. Thousands of Muslims who had lived there for generations started a mass exodus to southern parts of the island. Tangshan earthquake (1976). In 1990 the LTTE ordered all Muslims in the north to leave their homes.

Caused great and unexpected destruction of freeway bridges and flyways in the San Fernando Valley, leading to the first major seismic retrofits of these types of structures, but not at a sufficient pace to avoid the next California freeway collapse in 1989. Many also believe that the Indian army lost support because of acts of rape and extreme misconduct by Indian soldiers. Sylmar earthquake (1971). It is speculated that for this brief moment the LTTE was aided in a fight against the IPKF which drove out India. Caused a landslide that buried the town of Yungay, Peru; killed over 40,000 people. It is alleged that the IPKF attempted to setup a longterm base of operations in Sri Lanka's north which frightened the Sri Lankan Government. Ancash earthquake (1970). They had lost over 1,500 men.

Good Friday Earthquake (1964) Alaskan earthquake. The 60,000-strong Indian force soon lost the support of both sides of the conflict and began a phased withdrawal, ending in 1990. Biggest earthquake ever recorded, 9.5 on Moment magnitude scale. India, which had helped create and nurture the Tamil militant groups in the north had changed its stance, and in 1987 signed the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord and sent the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) to the Jaffna peninsula. Great Chilean Earthquake (1960). While the Government dealt with the JVP rebellion, it enlisted the help of the Indian government to quell the Tamil separatist movement. Kamchatka earthquakes (1952 and 1737). 60,000 people vanished in the south during this period.

On the Japanese island of Honshu, killing over 140,000 in Tokyo and environs. His death ended the rebellion. Great Kanto earthquake (1923). At the end of 1989, JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera was arrested and days later shot while allegedly trying to escape. San Francisco Earthquake (1906). Both JVP and the Government engaged in the abduction, torture and murder of thousands of people. Largest earthquake in the Southeast and killed 100. By 1988 it was a full-scale guerilla war.

Charleston earthquake (1886). In 1986, the JVP (banned in 1983), started their second struggle in the south for state power. Fort Tejon Earthquake (1857). One Tamil militant group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), fought other groups, assassinated their leaders and assimilated their cadres into their ranks, and soon became the main group fighting the Army in the north and east. New Madrid Earthquake (1811). A 1985, round of peace talks in Thimphu, Bhutan failed, and the conflict intensified. Lisbon earthquake (1755). Clashes between Tamil militants and the Government increased.

Kamchatka earthquakes (1737 and 1952). Many thousands were forced to move from their homes in Colombo to the north and east. Cascadia Earthquake (1700). In July 1983, called Black July, in response to the killing of 13 army soldiers in Jaffna, the Government instigated a week-long pogrom against the Tamil community in the south, killing thousands. Deadliest known earthquake in history, estimated to have killed 830,000 in China. The Government sent the military to the Jaffna peninsula, increasing tensions. Shaanxi Earthquake (1556). They called this homeland Tamil Eelam.

San Andreas Fault. By early 1980s, calls for a separate Tamil state had grown to the point where Tamil militants engaged in guerrilla attacks against the Government. New Madrid Fault Zone. Jayewardene came to power and released imprisoned JVP members. North Anatolian Fault Zone. R. Hayward Fault Zone. In 1977, J.

Calaveras Fault. The insurrection was quelled by the government of Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and JVP leaders were jailed for treason. Alpine Fault. In 1971, the Marxist group Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) launched an insurrection in the south to gain state power. Earthquake prediction. Initially many of these were supported by the Indian Government which sought to appease Tamils in South India. Seismic retrofit. Calls for a separate Tamil state in the north and east grew, and eventually several Tamil militant groups formed, particularly in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

Household seismic safety. Decades of tension between Tamils living primarily in the north and east, and the Sinhala majority in the south, led to widespread communal riots in the 1950s to 1970s targeting Tamil communities and economic interests in many parts of the island. Emergency preparedness. This led to unrest among Tamils, whose cultural identity was threatened. an earthquake of 5.6 or larger every 100 years. The 1956 Sinhala Only Act made Sinhala the sole official language, forcing Tamil-speakers to learn it. an earthquake of 4.7 or larger every 10 years. Post-independence governments implemented a series of pro-Sinhala measures, supporting the Sinhala majority.

an earthquake of 3.7 or larger every 1 year. Independent Sri Lanka is famed for it's remarkable increase in human development, notably life expectency, infant mortality, and literacy, which lead the country to be seen as somewhat of a model for third world development. In 1982, the legislative and judicial capital was moved from Colombo to nearby Sri Jayewardanapura Kotte. In 1972, the country became a republic, free of the last vestiges of colonial domination; the name was changed to Sri Lanka. The flag of the last king of Kandy was proclaimed the National Flag with few minor changes (added orange and green vertical bars to represent the Tamils and Muslims).

The first prime minister was Don Stephen Senanayake, while Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore became Governor-General, the Queen's nominal representative. As Ceylon [1], it became a dominion in the British Commonwealth in 1948. The British used Sri Lanka as a base for operations in the Pacific. A month later, a Sri Lankan garrison on the Cocos Islands mutinied, but the rebellion was put down.

Extensive damage was caused to shipping and the Royal Navy lost two cruisers, an aircraft carrier and an Australian destroyer. Japan bombed Sri Lanka, but there were few casualties. During World War II pro-independence leaders were jailed. The struggle for independence started in the 1930s, when the Youth Leagues opposed the 'Ministers' Memorandum' which asked the colonial authority to increase the powers of the board of ministers, rather than seeking independence.

After the fall of Kandy kingdom in 1815, the British unified it with the 'low country' Kingdoms on the island under one rule for administrative purposes in 1818. Great Britain replaced the Dutch in 1796, and the coastal areas became a crown colony in 1802. During Portuguese and Dutch rule of coastal areas, the interior, hilly region of the island remained independent, with its capital at Kandy city. The Dutch followed in the 17th century.

They defeated both coastal kingdoms (Yarlpanam and Kotte) in the 16th century. In 1517, the Portuguese established the fort and trading post Colombo. When the Portuguese arrived, the island consisted of several autonomous kingdoms under the nominal suzerainty of the king at Kotte, such as those of Yarlpanam (Anglicised Jaffna) in the north and Kandy in the central hills. It was also invaded and ruled by Kings of Kalinga (present-day Indian state Orissa) and Malay Straights.

South Indian kingdoms invaded Sri Lanka on a number of occasions and so the island was ruled for extended periods by Tamil dynasties such as the Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras and Pallavas. Parakramabahu IV, who ruled from Kotte, was the last Sri Lankan king to rule over the entire island, although the other kingdoms remained under the nominal suzerainty of the High King at Kotte. After the Polonnaruwa era, the capital moved often, and the island was rarely unified. 1070 to 1200).

1000 AD) and Polonnaruwa (c. 200 BC to c. Buddhism and a sophisticated system of irrigation became the pillars of Sinhalese civilization (200 BC-1200 AD) that flourished in the north-central Sri Lanka, with capitals at Anuradhapura (from c. Buddhism arrived from the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BC thanks to Arahath Mahinda Thero, missionary of Indian Emperor Ashoka, and spread rapidly.

Given the island's proximity to the Deccan Plateau, people of different ethnicities must have traveled to and from it throughout human history. Its origins are not dated, but must post-date the arrival of the Dravidian language group in South India sometime in prehistory. Tamil presence is noted throughout the country's written history. However, archaic Sinhalese langauge is closer to Prakrits used in northwest India, indicating an origin in the present western coastal Indian state Gujarat.

Legend states that king Vijaya came to Sri Lanka from Orissa in northeast India. Archaeological excavations at Anuradhapura show a settlement from the 10th century BC. It also describes a minister of Vijaya, Anuradha, who established the village Anuradhagamma which later became Anuradhapura and became the capital of Sri Lanka centuries later. This may refer to a specific group of Prakrit-speaking people, and not necessarily the first such group to arrive.

The Mahavansa describes the Sinhalese kingdom started by king Vijaya and his followers. The theory of Mahavamsa is a contraversial subject and a debate continues as to whether some aspects of it are factual. Archaeological evidence supplements the Mahavamsa as it places people (perhaps the indigenous Yakkas and Nagas of the chronicle) of indistinguishable racial origin living in the north-central Sri Lanka from the 10th century BC onwards with knowledge of agriculture, metallurgy, and livestock breeding. The Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa give a near-continuous written history of the island and is also the primary source for the early chronology of India, especially for the synchronity with Alexander the Great and the Greeks.

Prior to 1972, Sri Lanka was known by a variety of names; the best known is Ceylon. In 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. In 1972, the official name of the nation that governs the island was changed to the Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka (ශ්‍රී ලංකා in Sinhala / இலங்கை in Tamil). .

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (ශ්රී ලංකා in Sinhala / Sri Lanka in Tamil) (known as Ceylon before 1972) is a tropical island nation off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent, about 30 km south of India. The chronology of early India depends upon that of the Mahawamsa. The Buddhist scriptures were first committed to writing at Aluvihare in Sri Lanka. Winner of the Cricket World Cup in 1996.

First country to have a wildlife sanctuary [2]. World's leading exporter of cinnamon; exported to Egypt as early as 1400 BC. World's leading exporter of tea; Ceylon tea is of the finest quality in the world. Sri Lanka celebrated 80 years in Broadcasting on December 16th 2005.

First country in South Asia to start radio broadcasting with Radio Ceylon. Longest period of continuous multi party democracy by a non western country (from 1931-present). First country in the World to have a female prime minister (Sirimavo Bandaranaike). Western.

Uva. Southern. Sabaragamuwa. North Western.

North Eastern. North Central. Central. Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.