Centre Advisors
Prof. Lalith De Silva
BSc. (BE), MSc. Arch (Moratuwa), RIBA, FIA (SL)
Dean, Faculty of Architecture
Professor in Built Environment, Department of Building Economics
Prof. Prian Dias
B.Sc. (Eng) Hons. (Moratuwa), PhD (University of London), PG Diploma, DIC (Imperial College)
Senior Professor, Department of Civil Engineering
Director
Dr Udayangani Kulatunga
B.Sc. (QS) Hons, PhD (UK), FHEA (UK), PGCAP (UK)
Senior Lecturer, Department of Building Economics
Dr Kulatunga joined Department of Building Economics, Universty of Moratuwa in February 2018. Before joining University of Moratuwa, Dr Udayangani Kulatunga was a Reader at the School of the Built Environment, University of Salford UK. She was also the Director of the flagship research group, the Centre for Disaster Resilience, University of Salford.
Research Interests
Disaster Management, Culture and Disaster Risk Reduction, Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Principal Investigator: Evaluation of wind induced damages on roofs, Senate Research Grants, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
- Co-Investigator: A Collaborative Multi-agency Platform for Building Resilient Communities
- funded by the EPSRC research council,
- Principal Investigator: Risk perception when responding to man-made disasters, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, UK
- Principal investigator: Challenges of data collection from crisis affected regions, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, UK
Selected Publications related to Disaster Management
- Kantamaneni, K.; Sudha Rani, N.; Rice, L.; Sur, K.; Thayaparan, M.; Kulatunga, U.; Rege, R.; Yenneti, K.; Campos, L.C. A, (2019), Systematic Review of Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Studies along Andhra Pradesh, India: A Critical Evaluation of Data Gathering, Risk Levels and Mitigation Strategies. Water, 11(2) , 393.
- Al-Dahash, H & Kulatunga, U 2018, Challenges Facing the Controlling Stage of the Disaster Response Management Resulting from War Operations and Terrorism in Iraq, Proceedia Economics and Finance, 212, pp. 863-870
- Salamati Nia, SP and Kulatunga, U 2017, 'Safety and security of hospitals during natural disasters : challenges of disaster managers' , International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering, 7 (2) , pp. 234-246.
- Wedawatta, G, Kulatunga, U, Amaratunga, D and Ahmed, P 2016, 'Disaster risk reduction infrastructure requirements for South-Western Bangladesh : perspectives of local communities', Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 6 (4)
- Jogia J, Kulatunga U, Yates G.P, and Wedawatta, G 2014, Culture and the psychological impacts of natural disasters: Implications for disaster management and disaster mental health, Built and Human Environment Review, 7.1, pp. 15-25.
- Al-Dahash, H & Kulatunga, U 2014, 'Evaluation of the System of Disaster Management Resulting from War Operations and Terrorism in Iraq', Proceedia Economics and Finance, 18(C), pp.900-907.
Team Members
Dr. Chandana Siriwardana
B.Sc. (Eng) Hons. (Moratuwa), MSc (Tokyo), PhD (Calgary)
Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering
Dr. Chandana Siriwardana is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Dr. Chandana obtained his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering, with Project Management Specialization from the University of Calgary, Canada. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering, Specialized in Coastal Engineering from University Tokyo, Japan with the Monbukagakusho Scholarship.
Dr. Chandana is engaged with many international research projects in Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Risk Management funded by Erasmas+ (EU), EPSRC (UK) and GCRF (UK). Furthermore, he collaborates with the Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka for the “Safe Hospitals" initiative and for developing construction guidelines for Dengue control. He is also currently participating in a short-term project HEARTS-SL with the University College of London to develop Rapid Visual Assessment system to assess vulnerability of hospitals against tsunamis and storm surges.
Research Interests
Emergency management, Risk assessment, Disaster management and Disaster Risk Reduction, Construction and project management
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- A Collaborative Multi-agency Platform for Building Resilient Communities: MOBILISE project funded by the EPSRC research council
- Advancing Skill Creation to ENhance Transformation (ASCENT) project, funded by Erasmus+ programme of the Europe Union
- Capacity Building in Asia for Resilience EducaTion (CABARET) project, funded by Erasmus+ programme of the Europe Union
- HEART-SL project in collaboration with University College London, UK and Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka
Selected Publications related to Disaster Management
- Editor-Book of Abstracts and Proceedings: International Conference on Capacity Building for Research & Innovation in Disaster Resilience, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- C. S. A. Siriwardana, G. P. Jayasiri, and S. S. L. Hettiarachchi, ‘Investigation of efficiency and effectiveness of the existing disaster management frameworks in Sri Lanka’, Procedia Eng., vol. 212, pp. 1091–1098, 2018.
- P. Dissanayake, S. Hettiarachchi, and C. Siriwardana, ‘Increase in Disaster Risk due to inefficient Environmental Management, Land use policies and Relocation Policies. Case studies from Sri Lanka’, Procedia Eng., vol. 212, pp. 1326–1333, 2018.
- G. P. Jayasiri, C. S. A. Siriwardena, S. S. L. Hettiarachchi, P. B. R. Dissanayake, and C. S. Bandara, ‘Evaluation of Community Resilience Aspects of Sri Lankan Coastal Districts’, Int. J. Adv. Sci. Eng. Inf. Technol., vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 2161–2167, Oct. 2018.
- W. D. M. Kularatne, C. S. A. Siriwardana, and H. H. H. Hasalanka, ‘Investigation of emergency and disaster management of hospitals in Sri Lanka; a pilot study’, presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 2018.
- H. H. H. Hasalanka, C. S. A. Siriwardana, N. W. A. N. Y. Wijesekara, and K. A. L. C. Kodituwakku, ‘Development of a tool to assess structural safety of Sri Lankan hospitals under disaster conditions’, presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment, 2018.
- A. L. M. Rizath, C. S. A. Siriwardana, "Assessment of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the Deployment of Construction Risk Management Practices in Sri Lanka" International Journal of Civil Engineering., vol. 7, no.5, pp. 1-12, 2018
Dr Dilum Bandara
B.Sc (Hons) Computer Science Engineering, M.S. and Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Colorado State University
Senior Lecturer, Computer Science and Engineering
Research Interests
IoT (Internet of Things), Data Engineering, Distributed Systems (Cloud, P2P, and HPC), and network security, as well as multidisciplinary applications of those technologies.
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Center for Urban Waters (CUrW), Sri Lanka http://curwsl.org
Selected Publications related to Disaster Management
- K.A.G. Udeshani and H.M.N.D. Bandara, “Detection of Weather Anomalies and Events of Interest Using Complex Event Processing,” Island Studies, University of Seychelles. (to appear)
- H.M.C. Chandrathilake, H.T.S. Hewawitharana, R.S. Jayawardana, A.D.D. Viduranga, H.M.N.D. Bandara, S. Marru, and S. Perera, “Reducing Computational Time of Closed-Loop Weather Monitoring: A Complex Event Processing and Machine Learning Based Approach,” In Proc. 2nd Moratuwa Engineering Research Conference (MERCon 2016), Apr. 2016.
- H.M.N.D. Bandara, A.P. Jayasumana, and M. Zink, “Radar Networking in Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of Atmosphere: State of the Art and Research Challenges,” In Proc. IEEE Globecom workshop on Radar and Sonar Networks, Dec. 2012.
Dr Menaha Thyaparan
B.Sc. (QS) Hons, PhD (UK)
Senior Lecturer, Department of Building Economics
Dr.Thayaparan joined University of Moratuwa in September 2018. Before joining, she served as a Senior Lecturer in Quantity Surveying at London South Bank University (LSBU) for 2 years. Before that, Menaha was a research fellow at University of Salford. She was the lead researcher attached to Centre for Disaster Resilience.
Research Interests
Disaster resilience, higher education, lifelong learning, women in construction, built environment
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- UK Coordinator (London South Bank University, UK) of the Researcher Links Workshop on Social Ecological Resilience to River Floods and Coastal Disasters that was held from 16-20 July 2018 at Blumenau, Brazil in partnership with Regional University of Blumenau, Brazil. Project funded by British Council and FAPESC (£42K). The workshop provided a platform for Early Career Researchers to collaborate on a long term basis. Post-workshop activities are undertaken in terms of produce additional publications on the workshop.
- Lead Researcher (University of Salford, UK) of Horizon 2020 DRS-9-2014 Disaster Resilience and Climate Change topic1: A panEuropean framework for strengthening Critical Infrastructure resilience to climate change (EU-CIRCLE), Full Project Value: 7.2million Euros with 21 partners, Salford’s component: £218,388 (307,000 Euros). Led a work package on resilience framework for critical infrastructure in Europe (May 2015-July 2016)
- Research Fellow (University of Salford), Newton Fund under the Newton Institutional Links programme for developing a resilient built environment extreme weather events in Malaysia with the partner institution Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). The project is titled “CLimate Impacts in Malaysia: Attenuation Through an Integrated Safer built Environment (CLIMATISE). The total value of the project is £80,642 over a period of one year. This project aimed to evaluate and develop built environment specific strategies for adaptation and mitigation of EWEs in Malysia with national and international collaboration of academics, practitioners and professional bodies (May 2015-July 2016)
Selected Publications related to Disaster Management
- Kantamaneni, K.; Sudha Rani, N.; Rice, L.; Sur, K.; Thayaparan, M.; Kulatunga, U.; Rege, R.; Yenneti, K.; Campos, L.C. A, (2019), Systematic Review of Coastal Vulnerability Assessment Studies along Andhra Pradesh, India: A Critical Evaluation of Data Gathering, Risk Levels and Mitigation Strategies. Water, 11(2) , 393
- Kulatunga, U., Pathirage, C. Thayaparan, M. Sulaiman, N. (2016), Vulnerability Assessment for Climate-Induced Disasters in Malaysia, in: 7th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment 2016 (ICSBE), 16th - 18th December, Earl’s Regency Hotel, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
- Al-Dahash, H, Thayaparan, M and Kulatunga, U. (2016), Understanding the terminologies: disaster, crisis and emergency , in: Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM), 5th -7th September, Manchester, UK
- Thayaparan, M., Ingirige, B.I., Pathirage, C., Kulatunga, U and Fernando, T. (2016), A Resilience Framework for Critical Infrastructure, in: 12th International conference of the International Institute for Infrastructure Resilience and Reconstruction, 5th -7th August, Kandy Sri Lanka.
- Al-Dahash, H, Thayaparan, M and Kulatunga, U. (2016), Challenges during disaster response planning resulting from war operations and terrorism in Iraq , in: 12th International conference of the International Institute for Infrastructure Resilience and Reconstruction, 5th -7th August, Kandy Sri Lanka.
- Noralfishah, S, Thayaparan, M, Haidaliza, M and Kulatunga, U. (2015), Impact of flood disaster in Malaysia : a case study on public hospitals, in: The 11th Annual International Conference of the International Institute for Infrastructure Resilience and Reconstruction (I3R2): Complex Disasters and Disaster Risk Management, 27-29 August 2015, University of Seoul, Korea.
Dr. T. Uthayasanker
BSc Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa), PhD (U. Georgia),
Senior Lecturer, Department of Computer Science Engineering
Research Interests
Big data, Machine Learning, Data Science
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Landslide Modelling and Warning, Crop Yield Prediction & Road Accident Modelling Collaboration NBRO, Ministry of Financ
Dr Chethika Abenayake
B.Sc (Hons) Town and Country Planning, PhD in system safety engineering from the Nagaoka University of Technology.
Senior Lecturer, Department of Town & Country Planning
Chethika Abenayake has been teaching disaster management and Planning for Risk & Uncertainty in the Department of Town & Country Planning since 2012. Dr. Abenayake is a charted town planner and a professionally qualified environmental planner.
Research Interests
Resilience Engineering; Climate Change Adaptation; Resilient communities and Cities
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Environmental planner, Capacity building to empower government officers (Planning and Development) to develop Climate Resilient Village Development Plans (CRVDPs) in Madirigiriya, Lankapura and Walapane DSDs, Climate Change Adaptation in Water and Agriculture Sector (C-CAP II), United Nations Development Programme, Sri Lanka (2018)
- Environment planner, Climate resilient action Plans for Coastal urban areas of Sri Lanka (CCSL). Norwegian Institute of Water Research (NIVA), University of Moratuwa -Sri Lanka (2011-2013)
- Environment planner, Vulnerability Mapping - Kesbewa Urban Council Area, RUAF Foundation, The Netherlands, University of Moratuwa -Sri Lanka (2012)
Selected Publications related to Disaster Management
- Abenayake, C. C., Mikami, Y., Matsuda, Y., & Jayasinghe, A. (2018). Ecosystem services-based composite indicator for assessing community resilience to floods. Environmental Development, 27, 34-46
- Abenayake, C. C., Mikami,Y., and Matsuda, Y. (2018) Validate Geospatial Indicators for Assessing Community Resilience Capacities to Floods; A System-Performance-Based Approac. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 13 (13): 4949-4960
- C Abenayake, M Yoshiki, A Marasinghe, Y Takashi, I Masahiro: Applicability of extra-local methods for assessing community resilience to disasters: A case of Sri Lanka. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management. 2016; 18(2): 1-28, 1650010, doi.org/10.1142/S1464333216500101
- Edith S. Ranjan, C Chethika Abenayake: A Study on Community's Perception on Disaster Resilience Concept. 4th International Conference on Building Resilience, 8-11 September 2014, Salford Quays, United Kingdom, Procedia Economics and Finance. Elsevier Publishers 2014. 4, 88-94
- P.K.S. Mahanama, C.Chethika Abenyake, Amila Jayasinghe: Batticaloa, Sri Lanka: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment. Edited by Jessica Pelham 01/2013; United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).URL:http://www.fukuoka.unhabitat.org/programmes/ccci/pdf/SRL6_Vulnerability_Assessment_NMC.pdf
Dr Aparna Samaraweera
B.Sc. (Hons) QS, PhD in Culture in Construction, University of Moratuwa
Senior Lecturer, Department of Building Economics
Research Interests
Project Culture
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Research project as a co-investigator with Dr.Udayangani Kulatunga to study the cultural basic assumptions of Sri Lankans towards disasters to suggest better strategies for disaster management.
Dr Pournima Sridarran
B.Sc (Hons) FM, PhD in Disaster Management, University of Huddersfield
Lecturer (Contract), Department of Building Economics
Research Interests
Disaster Resilience, Resettlements, Facilities, Assets Management, and Building Performance
Selected Publications related to Disaster Management
- Sridarran, P., Keraminiyage, K., and Fernando, N. (2018). Acceptance to be the Host of a Resettlement Programme: A Literature Review. Procedia Engineering. Vol 212, pp. 962-969, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2018.01.124
- Sridarran, P., Keraminiyage, K., and Amaratunga, D. (2018). Enablers and barriers of adapting post-disaster resettlements. Procedia Engineering. Vol 212, pp. 125-132, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2018.01.017
- Sridarran, P., Keraminiyage, K., and Amaratunga, D. (2017). Adaptable built-environment as a potential strategy to sustain post-disaster resettlements in Sri Lanka. In: Proceedings of 9th International Conference of Faculty of Architecture Research Unit (FARU), University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
- Sridarran, P., Keraminiyage, K., and Amaratunga, D. (2016). Consequences of involuntary relocations that affect the process of recovery: A literature review. In: Proceedings of the 6th International Building Resilience Conference. University of Auckland. New Zealand.
- Sridarran, P., Keraminiyage, K., and Amaratunga, D. (2016). Community integration and participation to improve the built environment of the Post-Disaster Involuntary Relocations. In: Proceedings of the 12th International conference on the International Institute for Infrastructure Resilience and Reconstruction. University of Peradeniya. Department of Civil Engineering, Kandy, Sri Lanka.
Dr Adeesha Wijayasiri
B.Sc (Hons) (Computer Science & Engineering), University of Moratuwa, MSc, PhD Computer Engineering, University of Florida
Lecturer, Computer Science and Engineering
Research Interests
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), GPU implementation of CMT-Nek, Video Summarization methods using human computer interaction
Ms Biyanka Ekanayake
B.Sc (Hons) FM, M.Sc (by Research)
Research Scholar, Department of Building Economics
Research Interests
Carbon Footprint, Value Management, Disaster Management, Augmented Reality
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Research Assistant- Collaborative research project, “Developing a Digital Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction: Defining case studies of the MOBILISE project” with University of Salford, UK
- Research Scholar- Research project “Evaluation of Wind Induced Damages to Roofs” under the supervision of Dr Udayangani Kulatunga
Mr. Chameera Randil
BSc (Hons) Eng.
Research Assistant, Department of Civil Engineering
Research Interests
Disaster Risk Reduction, Structural Engineering
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Project MOBILISE for proposing collaborative multi-agency platforms for building resilient communities
- Reading for Master's: Quantifying and evaluating the impacts for a system after a disaster, under the supervision of Dr. Chandana Siriwardana
Selected Publications related to Disaster Management
- Editor-Book of Abstracts and Proceedings: International Conference on Capacity Building for Research & Innovation in Disaster Resilience, Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Rathnayake, W.K.D., Randil, O.P.C., Siriwardana, C.S.A., 2018. The Context of Disaster Management Framework of Sri Lanka and Development of an Evaluation Framework to Assess, in: Disaster Risk Reduction. Presented at the International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment, Kandy, p. 10.
- Chamal Perera, Chandana Siriwardana, Chameera Randil, “Importance of Community Resilience Measurement Approaches with the Change of Climate in the Field of Disaster Resilience and its Applicability in the Sri Lankan Context”, 9th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment (ICSBE 2018), Kandy, Sri Lanka
- O.P.C.Randil, Champika Liyanage, Felix Villalba-Romero, Chandana Siriwardana, Chamal Perera, Harkunti P.Rahayu, “Financing Instruments to Ensure DRR Compliance in PPP Port Projects”, Advancing Skill Creation to Enhance Transformation (ASCENT) Conference 2019, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Ms Nishara Abdeen
B.Sc (Hons) FM, M.Sc (by Research)
Research Scholar, Department of Building Economics
Research Interests
Disaster Management, Climate Resilience, Smart Cities, Supply Chain
Selected Disaster related Projects or Networks/ Industry and Government Collaborations
- Research Assistant- Collaborative research project, “Developing a Digital Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction: Defining case studies of the MOBILISE project” with University of Salford, UK