The Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004 claimed nearly 30,000 lives in Sri Lanka. Since that catastrophe, numerous initiatives have been taken up to raise awareness amongst the public in addition to policy level institutionalizations. The Disaster Management Center (DMC), the government focal agency of the Sri Lanka Preparedness Partnership (SLPP), requested SLPP support to develop a process document on reaching safety from tsunami targeting the World Tsunami Awareness Day on 5th November 2017. To commemorate this day, DMC has been instrumental in organizing an island-wide Tsunami evacuation drill covering all 14 coastal districts in Sri Lanka. All national, sub-national and community level stakeholders participated in this event.
The SLPP- a national level multi-stakeholder partnership formed under Asian Preparedness Partnership (APP) extended its support in the successful implementation of this exercise by providing observers at national and district level. Evacuation planning to safer locations and observing community response levels to tsunami early warning messages were some of the key objectives of this exercise. This video process document provides an understanding of the meticulous planning and steps to be implemented prior, during and after a tsunami evacuation drill.