Grama Niladari Divisions Research Articles

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, Stress and Coping Strategies among Adults in a Rural Community in Southern Province, Sri Lanka

Background and objective: Negative emotional status due to various life challenges have been reported very often among adult population. These problems increase the risk of developing mental health problems and accelerate their progression in communities. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, self-reported reasons for psychological distress and coping strategies among adults in Nagoda Divisional Secretariat area, Galle, Sri Lanka.Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the participation of 280 adults aged 20-64 years, selected using cluster sampling from randomly selected five Grama Niladari divisions in Nagoda Divisional Secretariat area. Previously validated Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale-21(DASS-21) was administered to assess the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress. Descriptive analysis and chi-square test were performed using SPSS software (Version 23).Results: Of the participants, 59.3% were females. Around 40% were aged 35-50 years. The prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress were identified as 33.2%, 18.6% and 59.6% respectively. Prevalence of symptoms of depression (37.9%) and anxiety (21.7%) were higher among females. Stress was more prevalent (52.6%) in males. Gender (p=0.042) and living arrangement (p=0.025) showed a significant association with depression. Presence of a comorbidity (p=0.040) showed a significant association with stress. The reasons for psychological distress perceived by participants were; health issues of family members (53.6%), own health problems (52.1%), relationship issues (44.3%) and dietary pattern associated issues (44%). A few participants reported meditation (15.4%), engaging in exercises (14.6%), seeking counselling support (13.9%) and recreational activities (14.3%) as their healthy coping strategies.Conclusions: This study showed a high prevalence of symptoms of stress compared to depression and anxiety among adults and major determinants of emotional symptoms were personal and family health issues. Only few individuals were practicing healthy coping strategies. The results emphasize the importance of improving adult health at community level that may contribute to positive mental health.

Social Vulnerability Contours (SVCs) for Disaster Vulnerability and Resilience Mapping

Mass flooding events are predominant hydrometeorological disasters in the modern world. This situation has worsened due to the accelerating climate change scenarios. This is because social vulnerability to flood disasters has become one of the greatest challenges in the world. Similarly, Sri Lanka as a middle-income country in the developing world, has been experiencing mass flooding events for decades. Many emerging studies have paid their upmost attention to model the flood disaster vulnerability. But a little has been explored about the understanding of the “Spatiality” or “Geographies” of social vulnerability and resilience status and distributional patterns. In light of the existing body of literature, this study aims to demonstrate a new mechanism for mapping the spatial patterns of social vulnerability and resilience for flooding called “Social Vulnerability Contours (SVCs)”. This study occupied with the multi-facet composite social vulnerability index (MFCSVI) in order to measure the values of each and every surveyed household for generating SVCs. The 213 flood affected households situated in eight Grama Niladari Divisions (GNDs) were considered for the empirical data collection. General normalization procedure was used to scale up all the variable values with different measures to a single scale. Study occupied with ArcGIS 10.4 for generating SVCs were based upon households’ MFCSVI values. The resultant SVCs revealed the significant spatial distribution patterns of social vulnerability and resilience through sampled GNDs. A good consistency of data distribution can be expected with increasing the sample size among GNDs.

Development of convenient flood risk assessment method to community level: the case in the Deduru Oya basin in Sri Lanka

Purpose Floods have been identified as the most frequent and threatening disaster in Sri Lanka amidst an increasing trend of natural and man-made disasters in the world. Subject experts state that disaster risk management should be based on the results of risk assessments, but flood risk management in Sri Lanka is seemingly not based on community-level flood risk assessments. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to introduce a community-level flood risk assessment method to the local context of Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach The sample (n = 425) for the study was selected using the stratified random sampling method, and the Deduru Oya basin was selected as the study area. The risk assessment model introduced by Bollin et al. (2003) was used for the current study, but with some modifications. Accordingly, 16 variables were selected for the risk assessment. Descriptive data analysis methods were used in the study. Findings Community-level flood risk assessment method was introduced. Variable index, flood risk index and flood risk map were developed for the study area. The Grama Niladari Divisions (GNDs) were grouped into five categories from very high risk to very low risk. The GNDs named Wirakumandaluwa, Thimbilla, Deduru Oya, Bangadeniya and Elivitiya were ranked as the most flood-risk GNDs, respectively. Originality/value This paper produces a flood risk assessment method for the local context. Flood risk in the study area was assessed based on people’s perceptions. Accordingly, the flood risk index and flood risk map for the study area were developed based on the empirical data. GNDs were ranked based on the flood risk index.

EVALUATION OF FLOOD DETERMINANTS: EVIDENCE FROM KELANI RIVER IN SRI LANKA

Floods are one of the meteorological occurrences that commonly record as serious catastrophic natural hazard in the world. Flooding ranks among the most devastating types of natural catastrophe in Sri Lanka. A well-known spot in the country for repeated floods may be found along the banks of one major river, the ‘Kelani,' with incredible damages recorded for the human lives and property in the Kaduwela Municipal Council boundaries. Therefore, it is timely requirement for identification of determinants on the recurrent flooding in the area. This research aims to analyze the determinants of flooding based on Kelani River, in Kaduwela Municipal Council limits, focusing on both natural and man-made factors. The research was conducted within the mixed method approach. Sixty households were chosen by systematic random selection to reflect the most vulnerable Grama Niladari divisions, and the data was collected using a structured questionnaire by considering ten determinants and indepth interviews with five experts. Collected data were analyzed using mean value analysis and content analysis to achieve the research objective. The findings revealed that man-made factors are the most affected factors for flooding in the area. Among them, the findings of both analyses indicated that the most significant reasons were non-availability of proper drainage system and violating the existing rules and regulation in the area. The study recommended, the necessity to implement adaptation measures and policies to minimize the flood risk of the area to achieve urban sustainability.
 Keywords: Flood Determinants, Flood Risk, Man- made Factors, Natural Factors

Human-Elephant Conflict and Mitigation Methods using Participatory Rural Appraisal Techniques: A Case Study of Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama Grama Niladari Divisions in Thambuttegama Divisional Secretariat Division

The land area of Sri Lanka constitutes 65,610 sq. km with a considerable range of forest conservation zones that are prone to human- elephant conflict (HEC) that has led to various social, economic, and environmental issues. The main objective of this study is to identify the key issues in human-elephant conflict and propose viable solutions for them using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). Two key HEC prone areas have been selected for this study, namely Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama Gramaniladari Divisions (GND) in the Thambuttegama Divisional Secretariat. Both primary and secondary data sources have been utilized in data collection and data were mainly derived from information sources, particularly published on HEC incidents reported in the key areas. Primary data were collected using PRA methods, such as resources map, seasonal map, problem tree, and risk quadrant. It was found out from the PRA survey that HEC incidents from Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama divisions account for 41% and 56% respectively. In terms of damage evaluation, 70% of incidents account for property damages while 25% account for damages to cultivations. According to the HEC risk value calculation, 165.85 and 100.17 risk values were found in the Kuda Bellankadawala and Kelegama villages. The most commonly used methods for HEC damage control were elephant watch towers (85%) and firecrackers (70%) and the survey has revealed that elephant corridor methods are still not used for reducing of HECs in the study areas. It is expected that the findings of this study will be instrumental in the formulation and implementation of local-level policies for minimizing damages from HECs in Sri Lanka.

Participatory GIS-Based Approach for the Demarcation of Village Boundaries and Their Utility: A Case Study of the Eastern Boundary of Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka

This study examines spatial knowledge of the local community and the participatory resource mapping (PRM) approach to demarcate land boundaries in the eastern boundary of Wilpattu National Park, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has four types of major administrative boundaries, namely, provinces, districts, divisional secretariat divisions (DSD), and Grama Niladari (GN) divisions. The smallest community segments are clustered inside each GN division. The lack of proper demarcation of these smallest community segments, called ‘villages’, has been identified as a significant issue when implementing community development plans and applications in government and non-government projects. Thus, the deliverables of community-based projects become less effective. The objective of this study was to explore means of demarcating land boundaries, to separately identify small community segments using participatory GIS (PGIS) techniques. The study was conducted covering 12 GN divisions adjoining the eastern border of Wilpattu National Park (WNP). The methods used included PGIS interviews and group discussions with PRM steps. Overall, around 100 selected community members, spread across 12 GN divisions, were chosen to participate in the study. Community society meetings were conducted in each village, and essential topographic information in the area was collected with the knowledge of local society members and GIS tools. Later, this was digitized and verified to improve the presentation and accuracy of the results. As a result, the study could identify villages in each GN division, while generating more precise digital maps. Through this study, it can be confirmed that PGIS has remarkable potential in land use planning applications. The study further shows the potential of the application of PGIS in community-based projects and their deliverables to the community, and in enhancing community education on spatial thinking and planning, while facilitating community empowerment and innovation.

A GIS-Based Spatial Variations Analysis of Water Quality in Domestic Wells in The Buttala Area, Sri Lanka

Water quality can be identified as the main agent of human health. Different approaches and techniques can be used to analyze groundwater quality. Among them, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is one of the approaches that can be utilized to analyze water quality levels in a spatial context and it provides more powerful tools that can be interpreted the spatial variation of the water quality parameters over the geographical space.Accordingly,the study was conducted to analyze spatial variations of the water quality in drinking wells in the Buttala Divisional Secretariat (DSD) which is an agricultural area in the dry zone.The methodological procedure is extremely important in this type of research thus, the spatial Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) procedure was used. Multi-criteria analysis has been widely applied to solve decision-making problems related to the environment, and natural resource management. In the study, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and MCDA integrated approach were used to visualize the spatial patterns of the water quality in the study area and to formulate the water quality index map.To generate the water quality index map, pH value, turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC), florid, and nitrate of 48 water samples were collected from the domestic well and tube wells from 10 Grama Niladari Divisions (GND) in Buttala DS.The ArcGIS 10.3 software was used for spatial analysis like Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) and kriging.The results revealed that 11.2% of the water of the drinking wells in the study area has a good fitness level, while 68.7% of wells show a moderate quality level. Out of the total samples is shown that 18.5% of wells had a poor-quality level, and 1.2%was found to be very poor for drinking purposes. And also, 0.4 % of the area is unsuitablefordrinking.The study shows that geospatial techniques are more effective for studying the water quality in any area in an accurate decision support tool.

A Comparative Study of Structural and Functional Changes of Female-Headed Households in Rural Areas in Sri Lanka

Aim: Male-Headed Households (MHHs) and Female-Headed Households (FHHs) can be distinguished by the gender of the household’s primary breadwinner. A home where the breadwinner is a woman is said to be a female-headed household. Male heads of households are the norm in patriarchal societies. However, there are many situations in which a woman must take on the headship role on her own: when her husband dies, gets sick or disabled, leaves her, gets divorced, never marries, etc. Thus, this research aims to compare how FHHs were set up before and after women took charge.Methodology: This research was carried out in the Kurunegala district of the North-Western province of Sri Lanka in the five Grama Niladari divisions of the Galgamuwa divisional secretariat: Molewa, Kallanchiya, Koonwewa, Wadugama, and Medawachchiya. Purposive sampling was used to select 100 female participants. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were the primary methods of data collection. Surveys and case studies were employed in the study’s research. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the numbers, while the descriptive approach was used to investigate the qualitative information.Findings: Changes to FHHs are more dramatic when one or both parents move back in with their children when a child moves back in with a different guardian, when a child marries and leaves the reproductive family, when a child dies, or when a child becomes an ordained religious leader. The study focused on how the household’s economic role and decision-making authority have changed.Implications/Novel Contribution: Seventy-four percent of women in leadership roles feel that structural and functional changes have negatively impacted their lives. Several factors, including economic hardship, insecure livelihood activities, sole household responsibilities, a lack of supportive community mechanisms, gender bias in the socialization process, dependency and a subordinate mentality in decision-making, and other factors, have influenced their adverse reactions to specific functional changes after assuming the headship. Therefore, it is essential to run mobilization and empowerment programs for women heads at the grass-roots level to boost their decision-making, leadership, and active community engagement potentials. We must provide emotional support systems like therapy, mentoring, and advocacy to enhance their mental health.

Impact Of Seawater Intrusion Bund On Soil & Water Conservation Along The Coastal Line Of Poonakary, Sri Lanka

Abstract Saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers is reported at coastal region of Poonakary, Kilinochchi district. A sea water intrusion bund was constructed by United Nations Development Programme in 2015 to reduce the issues with seawater intrusion. This study aimed to measure the variations of soil salinity and pH before (2015), just after (2016) and three years after (2018) the construction of bund and to identify the impacts of seawater intrusion bund on soil, water quality and crop improvement in the area. The study was conducted in three selected Grama Niladari Divisions of Poonakary, during July to September period in 2018. Soil samples were collected from 30 locations at different sampling depths and the locations were recorded by using GPS and fifteen water samples were collected to measure the water quality parameters and the values compared with WHO standards. A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess the crop improvement in the selected locations. When comparing the soil pH in 2016 and 2018, at all depths except 60cm, changes were highly significant and at 60 cm, it was significant. The Soil EC during 2016 and 2018 revealed that, at 15cm, 30cm and 60cm the changes were significantly different and at 45cm it was not significantly differ due to hardpan formation. A considerable improvement in the water quality and yield improvement of paddy were observed. The study reveals that, the seawater intrusion bund can be considered as a potential permanent solution for seawater intrusion at Poonakary.

Evaluation of societal trust on multi-hazard early warning (MHEW) mechanism: Sri Lankan context

PurposeIt is significant to assess the societal trust toward the new advancements in multi-hazard early warnings (MHEW) with the focus on disaster risk reduction (DRR). Based on this, the purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of societal trust behavior along with the parameters such as mode of communication and institutions of issuing early warnings (EWs).Design/methodology/approachA field questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the extent of societal trust. This was conducted in ten selected Grama Niladari divisions in Sri Lanka based on a developed hazard matrix. The fuzzy logic approach was applied to examine the trust level of collected 323 responses obtained through this. The analysis was done based on the responses on mobile-based platforms in EW and the credibility level of the warnings received through different institutions.FindingsThe analyzed survey responses indicated that society has a higher extent of trust toward the EWs disseminated through mobile-based platforms. Moreover, these represent a strong positive correlation among the societal trust level and the level of importance of EW dissemination through mobile-based platforms. Further, in terms of trusted stakeholders in issuing EW alerts, Disaster Management Center, Sri Lanka Police and Media ranked the highest in the Sri Lankan context. Overall, findings were visually mapped through the causal loop diagrams (CLDs).Practical implicationsIn enhancing the effectiveness of the existing MHEW mechanism, the policy implications could be done, based on the results obtained from this research study. These could be altered with the implementation of DRR strategies with a community focus.Originality/valueThe fuzzy logic approach was used in the determination of the societal decision-making on the extent of trust level. Fuzzy triangulation is mainly applied in the interpretation of the results. Further, overall parameters that determine the community trust on MHEW are represented through CLDs through system dynamics application.

Current Patterns in the Use of Domestic Wells in the Villages in Devinuwara Divisional Secretariat Division, Southern Sri Lanka

At present, freshwater is rapidly becoming scarce with increasing competition from humans for different purposes and climate change. In this context, sustainable use and conservation of freshwater aquifers, water use efficiency, and wastewater reuse at the domestic level play a significant role in solving water management challenges and food security. Domestic well use pattern, very unique to Sri Lankan villages for centuries, is mutually connected with the society, environment, and culture. However, nowadays the village lifestyle has been changing with increasing the standard of living of people. It leads to change their traditional behavior when they use natural resources like domestic wells. Accordingly, such changes affect the sustainability of wells and domestic food security. Therefore, this study examines the current patterns in the use of domestic wells aiming to identify the factors affecting such behavioral changes and their impacts. Five Grama Niladari Divisions like Pathegama East, Thalalla North, Naotunna, Uda Aparekka, and Kadawadduwa East in Devinuwara Divisional Secretariat Division were selected purposively. The sample consists of 100 dug well owners. While the sampling was stratified random, the data analysis was carried out using SPSS 17.0. Findings show that only 24 % of well owners directly accessed to their wells daily to fulfill their water requirement. 76% of well owners did not directly access to their wells daily as they have pumped water. The main reasons for that were due to easiness and save time (33%), easiness and water depth (24%), location and water depth (14%), and the location of the wells (8%). According to the chi-square test, it was statistically proved that there is no relationship with adoption of pumped water to the distance of the well from home (P value= .627), the number of family members (P-value = .089), well depth (P-value =.174) and occupation of the housewives (P value=.107). Further, it was revealed that 60% of well owners did not use land near wells for crop cultivation. In contrast, 39% of householders have planted crops near their water tanks while 77% of respondents planted crops near their outdoor taps. 60% of well owners’ wives maintained their kitchen gardens using well water. 47% of well owners’ wives used once used well water to maintain their kitchen gardens while 53% of them did not utilize kitchen greywater for any purposes. Accordingly, this study statistically proved that there is a relationship between the attitude of the housewives regarding water conservation at home and greywater reuse (P value= .000). Further, this study also found negative impacts of the absence of direct connection with wells such as lack of knowledge about the changes in water level, water quality, domestic well condition, and dryness of surrounding well environment. This study highlights the significance of enhancing knowledge about managing and protecting well resources, domestic water conservation, water use efficiency, kitchen garden maintenance for sustainable water, and food security at the domestic village level.

Impact of organic farming on annual average income and cost of production of tea smallholders in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan government has planned to extend and promote organic tea cultivation in Sri Lanka through Haritha Lanka Programme which is the national cooperate plan to greening the Sri Lankan economy. Though positive environmental impacts of organic farming have been proven limited studies have been carried out in Sri Lanka to find out the impact of organic farming on the average annual income and cost of production (COP). Therefore, this paper attempts to examine the impact of adopting organic farming on annual average income and COP in high grown organic tea smallholdings (TSHs) in Sri Lanka. The data for the study were collected from a sample survey of 107 TSHs in four Grama Niladari divisions of Bandarawela secretariat of Badulla district. The study used two sample pooled t - test to identify the possible impact of adopting organic farming on two economic variables: annual average income and COP of TSHs. Ordinary Least Squared (OLS) estimate of a multiple linear regression was performed to estimate the impact of organic tea cultivation on the income and expenditure. The results suggest that the adoption of organic farming has strong positive impact on annual average income of TSHs while there is no significant impact of organic tea cultivation on cost of production and other off–farm income generations. The regression results further reveal that the annual average on–farm income of organically cultivated land is considerably higher than the non-organic TSHs in the study area. These findings conclude that adoption of organic farming improves the productivity of cultivated land, income and profit margin of the TSHs while maintaining the environmental sustainability.

Remote Sensing Data and SLEUTH Urban Growth Model: As Decision Support Tools for Urban Planning

Sri Lanka is experiencing speedy urbanization by converting the agriculture land and other natural land cover into built-up land. The urban population of Sri Lanka is expected to reach to 60% by 2030 from 14% in 2010. The rapid growth in urban population and urban areas in Sri Lanka may cause serious socioeconomic disparities, if they are not handled properly. Thus, planners in Sri Lanka are in need of information about past and future urban growth patterns to plan a better and sustainable urban future for Sri Lanka. In this paper, we analyzed the characteristics of past land use and land cover trends in Matara City of Sri Lanka from 1980 to 2010 to assess the historic urban dynamics. The land use change detection analysis based on remote sensing datasets reveal that the conversion of homestead/ garden and paddy into urban land is evident in Matara City. The historic urban trends are projected into the near future by using SLEUTH urban growth model to identify the hot spots of future urbanization and as well as the urban growth patterns in Matara City up to the basic administrative level, i.e., Grama Niladari Divisions (GND). The urban growth simulations for the year 2030 reveal that 29 GNDs out of 66 GNDs in Matara City will be totally converted into urban land. Whereas, 28 GNDs will have urban land cover from 75% to 99% by 2030. The urban growth simulations are further analyzed with respect to the proposed Matara city development plan by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) of Sri Lanka. The results show that the UDA’s city development plan of Matara will soon be outpaced by rapid urbanization. Based on the calibration and validation results, the SLEUTH model proved to be a useful planning tool to understand the near future urbanization of Sri Lankan cities.

Development, Politics and Disaster Mitigation: a Case Study of the Moragahakanda Irrigation Project

In Sri Lanka, development projects and their aims cannot be understood in absence of politics. Not only the rationale of the project, but also it’s the process and outcomes are products of the clientelistic politics practiced in the country’s politics since its independence. In that context, examining the process and politics is immensely important to understand the disaster potential of the Moragahakanda Development Project. This project is one of the last components of the Mahaweli Development Program that was designed as a 30-year project. The main objective of the project is to provide irrigation facilities to the existing water scarce farmlands (82,000ha) and also to open up new land (5000ha) for agriculture development in Northern, North Central, and Eastern and North Western provinces. In addition, generating and supplying of 25MW hydro-power to the national grid, increasing inland fish production, provision of potable and industrial water requirements, Eco tourism and effective flood control are also among the objectives of the project. According to the Mahaweli Authority, nearly 70% of the construction work of the Moragahakanda reservoir has been completed and the project is expected to be concluded by December 2017. This paper will be based on the field research that the author is carrying out for his forthcoming publication. Often such mega projects present its objectives loud and clear while keeping pitch silent about its negative effects. This paper, in order to examine the relationship between development politics and disaster mitigation, focuses mainly on the issues that are hardly being discussed. The Moragahakanda project has displaced a total of 5870 people in 1181 families from 11 Grama Niladari Divisions (GNDs). Once the project is completed Six GNDs areas will be totally and six other partially submerged causing more displacement of families. It effect on the environment is also alarming. This paper aims to examine the role of politics in development in relation to Moragahakanda project and thereby study the readiness of such mega projects to mitigate possible future disasters. It is naïve to expect development projects to be completely free of consequences on environment and human lives. In addition, one has to completely ignorant of the nature of politics in our society to believe that development projects to be initiated and implemented free of politics and practice of clientalism. Therefore, the strategies for mitigating potential disasters of such projects should also be examined in relation to the politics within which such projects are implemented.

Study on housing units locate in very high and high landslide hazard prone areas of Hali-Ela divisional secretariat division, Sri Lanka

Landslides are one of the major natural disasters that occur in Sri Lanka resulting in loss of lives and severe damages to livelihoods and property. Landslide hazard mapping project was launched to study and identify the distribution of landslide potential in central highland of Sri Lanka. Spatial distribution of risk buildings locate in very high and high landslide hazard prone areas are being identified through 1:10,000 scale landslide hazard maps prepared for the lowest administrative units called Grama Niladari Divisions. A building survey is carried out in housing units, commercial/institutions, religious places and schools, which are located in very high and high hazard landslide prone areas of the Badulla District. This paper presents the results of the building survey carried out in housing units locate in very high and high landslide hazard prone areas of Hali-ela D.S Division in the Badulla District. The empirical evidence revealed ten pertinent issues, livelihood of the families rely on lands in landslide prone areas; designing of houses without professional support; construction of houses without approval obtained from relevant authorities; construction of houses without obtaining landslide clearance certificate; construction of houses on steep slope (>31°) terrain; change of land morphology for construction of houses; presence of tell-tale landslide signs at the vicinity of houses; having no drainage system to discharge rain water; possibility of access road to the settlement damage by disaster; inadequate instructions to inhabitants on disaster preparedness; and housing units built without the support of professionals, to protect against landslide hazard and reducing landslide disaster risks.

Determinants of Programme Preferences and Watching Hours of Television: With Special Reference to Gampaha District

Although there is a great demand for the television as one of the main recreational options enjoyed by people, its market is lagging behind in value addition to the gross domestic product of the country due to failures in strategic management of television companies. This study seeks to identify determinants that affect people’s preference to watch television and the period of time they spend watching television. Identifying as to why people prefer to watch television and what determined the time period they spend watching television could provide better insights for television companies and other stakeholders to improve their viewer base in the oligopolistic market. This in turn, would help to increase the value addition of the industry through well targeted and relevant programmes and advertisements which are telecast at the most appropriate time. Primary data for the Study has been gathered from four Grama Niladari divisions of the Gampaha Divisional Secretariat in the Western province. Sample was selected using the simple random sampling method and data was collected during the period from February 2015 to April 2015. The sample comprises of 168 households that include 609 individuals. Models for the Study have been derived on individual basis. The binary logistic regression model has been used to identify determinants of programme preferences while the semi log regression model has been used to identify determinants of the number of hours spent watching television. Through the binary logistic regression model, it has been found that the age of the respondents and other factors such as the respondent being a male, married and employed have a significant positive relationship with the demand for knowledge based programmes. Age, marital status and employment status have reported a significant positive relationship with the number of hours spent watching television. Out of the employed respondents, those who spend more than eight hours of their time engaged in work have a strong negative relationship with the number of hours spent watching television. Middle aged and elderly individuals are more interested in programmes that contain news and politics while females are more interested in programmes with soft content such as teledramas and religious programmes when compared with males. “Hiru News” appears to be the most preferred news programme while “Atapattama” telecast in ITN appears to be the most preferred knowledge programme among the respondents. “Satana” telecast in Sirasa TV appears to be the most popular political programme according to the survey. The teledrama “Me Adarayai” telecast in Sirasa TV is the most favorite teledrama among the respondents while the programme called “Hiru Countdown” is recorded as the number one musical programme. Identifying the characteristics of the viewers would be helpful in targeting different segments of the viewers through suitable television programmes and plan economically effective advertising campaigns in the market.

Gender in the context of Disaster Risk Reduction; A Case Study of a Flood Risk Reduction Project in the Gampaha District in Sri Lanka

During the last four decades floods have been the main disaster that affected the highest number of families in Sri Lanka. At present, flood risk reduction is seriously taken into consideration by relevant authorities taking mitigation actions to save lives and properties. Literature on gender and disasters shows the importance of gender in disaster mitigation to bring better results. Thus the present study is an attempt to understand the importance of gender dimension in a flood disaster risk reduction project implemented in Sri Lanka. The study was conducted in two Grama Niladari divisions Pamunuwila and Galedanda in the Gampaha district where the project “cleaning Natha Ela” was implemented during in to address the issue related to floods in the area. The overall objective of the research was to understand, whether gender has been adequately addressed in the project management cycle of the flood risk reduction project and its consequences.The study revealed that women were more vulnerable to the flood disaster compared to men, due to differences in employment status, income, gendered social roles, social norms and restrictions governing behaviour. Even though the communities experienced a significant reduction of flood damages after the project implementation, the impact on the community could have been much greater if the project had considered the gender aspects related to floods.The study thus reinforces the argument that gender planning is vital for any development activity. In the case of cleaning the Natha ela project, gender was neutral from the planning stage to the implementation stage. The low representation of the women in the decision making process also contributed to the lack of gender sensitivity in the project. Thus the study clearly revealed that although disasters affect both men and women, the impact could be different and therefore mitigation efforts need to addresses such differences to make both men and women resilient to flood disaster.

Social, cultural and economical determinants of diabetes mellitus in Kalutara district, Sri Lanka: a cross sectional descriptive study

IntroductionSri Lanka is a country that is expected to face a high burden of diabetes mellitus (DM). There is a paucity of data on social and demographic determinants of DM, especially in the plantation sector.AimsTo describe social and economic correlates and inequalities of DM in Kalutara District.MethodsA cross sectional descriptive study was carried out among adults over the age of 35 years. A sample of 1300 individuals was selected using stratified random cluster sampling method from 65 Grama Niladari Divisions (GND), which were representative of urban, rural and plantation sectors. Twenty households were randomly selected from each division and one adult was randomly selected from each household. Data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire. Fasting plasma blood sugar of ≥126mg/dl was used to define DM. Significance of prevalence of diseases and risk factors across different socio-economic strata were determined by chi square test for trend.ResultsOf 1234 adults who were screened (628 males), 202 (14.7%) had DM. Higher DM proportions (16.1%) were seen in the highest income quintile and in those educated up to Advanced Levels (AL) and above (17.3%). Prevalence in the urban, rural and plantation sectors were 23.6%, 15.5% and 8.5% respectively. Prevalence among Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims were 14.4%, 29.0% and 20.0% respectively. There was a gradient in prevalence according to the unsatisfactory basic needs index of the GND with the highest proportion (20.7%) observed in the richest GND. The highest social status quintile demonstrated the highest proportion (17.4%) with diabetes mellitus.ConclusionThere is a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the more affluent and educated segments of society. There is also a higher prevalence among urban compared to rural and estates. Sri Lanka is in an early stage of the epidemic where the wealthy people are at a higher risk of DM.

Socioeconomic Implications of Water Pollution in an Urban Environment A Case Study in <i>Meda Ela</i> Catchment, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Meda Ela is a tributary of Mahaweli river. It has a complex catchment area with diverse type of land uses including densely populated urban areas. With urbanization and population pressure, Meda Ela is increasingly getting polluted due to direct disposal of solid waste, grey and black water. Polluted water from this tributary ultimately drains into the Mahaweli River which is the main source of drinking water for Kandy city and the suburbs. The objective of this study was to assess the socio-economic implications of water pollution in Meda Ela. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted with a randomly selected sample of 100 households within the 18 Grama Niladari Divisions (GNDs) of the catchment area to collect primary data. In addition, people from small businesses, commercial and public establishments such as small restaurants, central market, hospitals, etc. were interviewed to collect necessary data to identify impacts of water pollution on them and their opinion on pollution of Meda Ela water. Focused group discussions, and a number of key informant interviews were also held to gather relevant information. The results show that the level of water pollution is high in Meda Ela due to unplanned and inadequate waste disposal facilities and indifferent attitude of the people. The study revealed that occurrence of diseases, provision of breeding grounds for mosquitoes, and emission of unpleasant odour are the major impacts of water pollution. In addition, people who live closer to the canal suffer from flash floods during rainy seasons and bad odour during dry spells. Despite 93% of the community having a good educational background, they continue to dispose and discharge solid and liquid wastes into the stream. Though there are a large number of government sector stakeholders directly or indirectly involved in water resources management of the area, the degree of interactions and collaborations among them vary widely. This study recommends that there should be a community based management system to minimize the pollution of water in Meda-Ela and thereby to minimize the socio economic impacts of water pollution in the catchment. <strong>Key words: </strong>Meda Ela; Mahaweli River; Water Pollution; Social Impacts DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tar.v22i4.3788 <em>TAR </em>2011; 22(4): 374-383

Update From Sri Lankan Twin Registry: Establishment of a Population-Based Twin Register and Ongoing Project on Common Mental Disorders, Alcohol Abuse and Suicidal Ideations

AbstractThe Sri Lankan Twin Registry began as a volunteer register in 1997. Previously, we have shown door-to-door surveys as the best option to build a population-based twin register of older, adult twins. Our aim was to build a population-based twin register in the Colombo district and use it for twin studies on common mental disorders. We aimed to identify a random sample of 4000 twins ascertained through the twin census. The Colombo district is divided into 13 divisional secretariat divisions (DSDs) and each division is further divided into Grama Niladari divisions administratively. Grama niladaris (GNs) are civil servants and visit each household in order to update the electoral register. GNs were used to do a census of twins while they updated the electoral register. The correlation between population density and twin rate among DSDs was .81, and between twin rate and the percentage of returned forms (from each DSD) was .74. We received 9648 forms notifying about twins and multiples. After removing the duplicates and information about twins who live in other districts, there were 17,406 multiples remaining. After incorporating twins and multiples from various other feasibility studies we now have 19,040 multiples with 8.46 twins per 1000 people in the Colombo district.