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Sri Lankan
Tsunami-resilient building coastal belt
guidelines for Sri Lankan coastal
belt: a critical review and
consolidation based on significant 453

institutional perceptions Received 17 July 2022

Revised 10 January 2023
Accepted 17 April 2023
Udari Gunarathna
Postgraduate Institute of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
Chaminda Senarathna Bandara and Ranjith Dissanayake
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Peradeniya,
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and
Harsha Munasinghe
School of Architectural Studies, George Brown College, Toronto, Canada

Abstract
Purpose – The lessons learned from the 2004 tsunami phenomenon fueled the government and other local
authorities to strengthen the legitimate background to mitigate such devastation in future events. This study
aims to propose a standardized tsunami-resilient construction guideline for Sri Lanka by integrating existing
local and international standards.
Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive literature survey was carried out to undertake
the study, with a wide-ranging content and thematic analysis of existing tsunami-resilient construction
aspects in Sri Lanka. Integrating all existing guidelines with international standards, finally, a
consolidated guideline with significant tsunami-resilient building aspects was proposed for
stakeholders involved with the resilient built environment in tsunami-prone areas, particularly during
the building construction in the coastal belt.
Findings – The existing tsunami-resilient guidelines in Sri Lanka follow similar aspects but in different
dimensions. Compared to the international standards, few significant aspects create a gap in local guidelines.
Thus, the findings demonstrated that the existing local guidelines must be modified and strengthened by
mainstreaming into international practices.
Research limitations/implications – Existing guidelines are more concerned with structural aspects.
Nevertheless, proper integration of local and international guidelines would be more favorable to minimizing
existing local guidelines’ gaps. Further, a standardized tsunami-resilient building guideline would be a
referring document for all stakeholders in tsunami-resilient constructions.
Practical implications – By aligning local guidelines with international standards, the reliability of the
guidelines will be increased and direct the built environment to quality disaster-resilient constructions.
Social implications – Through a standardized guideline, the community can rely on tsunami-resilient
construction in coastal cities.
Originality/value – The consolidated guideline further contains the essentials of city resilience in
tsunamis and would be an excellent reference for relevant stakeholders than aligning with several guidelines. International Journal of Disaster
Resilience in the Built
Environment
Keywords Tsunami-resilience, Tsunami devastation, Coastal construction, Built environment, Vol. 14 No. 4, 2023
Local guidelines, International guidelines pp. 453-470
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1759-5908
Paper type Research paper DOI 10.1108/IJDRBE-06-2022-0058
IJDRBE 1. Introduction
14,4 The 2004 December 26 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake was one of the most disastrous recorded
earthquakes due to its moment magnitude scale between 9.1 and 9.3 (Shearer and Bürgmann,
2010). The resulting death total is estimated to be between 200,000 and 300,000 (Seneviratne et al.,
2010), and the most shattered country was Indonesia, as it lies near the subduction zone where the
earthquake occurred (Gillespie et al., 2014). Being the very first tsunami experience in Sri Lanka,
454 up to 40,000 people were killed and the scenario destroyed around 80,000 houses. Moreover, the
economic loss has been estimated at US$2.2bn, ignoring the cost of social impacts. This vast
calamity mainly occurred due to the lack of preparedness for such an unexpected situation
(Shareef, 2013) in Sri Lanka under no tsunami risk reduction measures. Even though Sri Lanka
frequently experiences periodic droughts, floods, landslides and the occasional cyclone (Arcos
et al., 2019), the nation has never experienced a tsunami or any other type of natural disaster of
this scale and magnitude in recorded history (Jayasuriya et al., 2006). In such a situation, the
tsunami devastation was identified as the most pathetic incident in Sri Lankan natural disaster
history (Silva, 2009). Further, many studies related to tsunami catastrophes revealed that the
destruction of coastal buildings added a vast amount of floating debris to the ongoing tsunami
flow (Suppasri et al., 2015), increasing damage to the surrounding properties. Consequently, many
arguments were developed around the construction standards of coastal line buildings and
showed that properly designed coastline buildings would minimize the devastation (Park et al.,
2013). This further emphasized that those properly designed structures could be an added
advantage for being used as tsunami evacuation buildings (Manawasekara et al., 2023).
Since tsunami devastation severely affected the buildings causing structural failures and
other design factors, thousands of houses collapsed within a few seconds. According to Sri
Lankan records, 25 beach hotels were severely damaged and another 6 were wholly washed
away (Jayasuriya et al., 2006). Two hundred forty schools were destroyed with severe damages.
Several hospitals, telecommunication networks and coastal railway networks were also shattered
by disturbing the whole infrastructural process of the coastal line (Suppasri et al., 2015). Similarly,
recent tsunami catastrophes, such as the Indian Ocean (2004), Samoa (2009), Chile (2010) and
Japan (2011) demonstrated an explicit structural design procedure for risk mitigation of utmost
significance (Stolle, 2016). Because for Sri Lanka, it gave an experience of a severe damage within
two critical hours. Moreover, it emphasized the power of tsunamis than the usually occurring
floods, landslides and other natural devastations (Imamura et al., 2019).
Accordingly, from the lessons learned from Tsunami 2004, several Sri Lankan authorities
declared structural and nonstructural measures for resilient buildings in tsunami-prone cities
(Haigh and Pathirage, 2016). However, different government and nongovernment institutions
have documented and announced these guidelines without an integrated system. This has been
further argued by Ahmed and McEvoy (2014), that in post-tsunami resettlement programs, the
available site planning guidelines are comparatively less in countries like Sri Lanka and often
apply general planning guidelines due to the unavailability of a specific standard guideline.
This results in the relevant stakeholders considering all the guidelines announced by the
applicable government and nongovernmental institutions instead of adhering to one guideline
with all tsunami-resilient aspects.
Thus, to overcome this disparity, this study proposes a standardized guideline with
significant measures of resilient buildings in tsunami-prone cities of Sri Lanka.

1.1 Institutional involvement in tsunami-resilient buildings

In Sri Lanka, local governments are in a privileged position to promote cities that are more
resilient to disasters (Malalgoda and Haigh, 2011). They play an important role before,
during and after a disaster (Kusumasari et al., 2010). Also, local governments could
encourage public participation at the local decision-making level to implement successful Sri Lankan
mitigation strategies (Pearce, 2003). Furthermore, local rather than central governments are coastal belt
more likely to address disaster risk reduction and urban sustainability since local
governments typically have more authority over urban planning and construction
supervision (Malalgoda and Amaratunga, 2015). There are several motives that the local
government and other relevant authorities make to increase their involvement to uplift the
living pattern and reduce the disaster vulnerability and its consequences on the community
455
(Malalgoda et al., 2013).
Consequently, focusing on vulnerable urban communities and developing their disaster
resilience, government and nongovernmental institutional requirements have become
critical (Tadele and Manyena, 2009). Considering the developing nations of Asia, most of the
explosive growth occurs in countries like Sri Lanka, as about half of the urban population
lives in slum areas or informal settlements (Rumbach, 2015). Moreover, about one-third of
the human population lives in and around the seashore areas (Senevirathna et al., 2018).
Thus, in the case of coastal disasters like tsunamis, the potential devastation is
exceptionally high due to informal human settlements in tsunami-prone areas (Khew et al.,
2015). This reveals that government and nongovernmental institutional involvement is
highly required to maintain a resilient built environment, especially against tsunami
disasters, due to their vast devastation within a short period (Papadopoulos et al., 2006).
One active battle for this situation under the international context is the UN International
Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR) campaign on Making Cities Resilient with the goal of
“My City is Getting Ready” (Gencer, 2017). This campaign aims to achieve resilient and
sustainable urban communities and encourage local governments to act effectively to reduce the
risk of disasters in cities (Amaratunga et al., 2018). Further, the campaign has developed “ten
essentials” for local governments to make their cities more disaster-resilient, including organizing
for disaster resilience; identifying, understanding and using current and future risk scenarios;
strengthening financial capacity for resilience; pursuing resilient urban development; and
safeguarding natural buffers to enhance the protective functions offered by natural ecosystems.
Also, it includes strengthening the institutional capacity for resilience; understanding and
supporting the societal capacity for resilience; increasing infrastructure resilience; ensuring
effective disaster response; and expediting recovery and building better (UNDRR, 2019).
Accordingly, to develop a standardized tsunami-resilient building guideline, this research
specifically focuses on the sixth essential of UN-ISDR, which is related to strengthening the
institutional capacity for resilience by having the capabilities to execute their roles and
increasing city resilience (UNDRR, 2019). It guides the identification of current gaps in local
capacity under prevention, mitigation, response and recovery in case of tsunami disasters.
Furthermore, it recognizes the best and most effective approaches to strengthen relevant
institutions for managing disaster risk. Besides, this study focuses on the fourth and eighth
essentials, where it speaks that the built environment needs to be assessed and made resilient
as applicable by linking with critical infrastructure systems (Cere et al., 2017).

2. Methodology
With the perspective of having a specific standard guideline for tsunami-resilient buildings
in Sri Lanka, the existing guidelines were meticulously explored and identified the
fundamental concepts related to local structural and nonstructural tsunami-resilient
guidelines. During the investigation, four main guidelines were identified as key standard
guidelines on tsunami-resilient building constructions as the guidelines of the National
Building Research Organization (NBRO, 2015), National Housing Development Authority
IJDRBE (NHDA, 2005), Society of Structural Engineers Sri Lanka (SSESL, 2005) and Coast
14,4 Conservation and Coastal Resource Management Department (CC&CRMD, 2007).
Under qualitative research methodology, a comprehensive content analysis was
undertaken to capture the presence, relationships and meanings of all four guidelines’ major
and minor aspects. As per the linkage and the relationship of all aspects in the four
guidelines explored via the literature review, a conceptual framework was developed to
456 explore the similar aspects addressed by the existing guidelines. Accordingly, major
headings for the proposed guideline were constructed and grouped all similar aspects under
those newly constructed headings of the proposed guideline as per the relevancy. Moreover,
a thematic analysis was used to see the aforementioned institutions’ different dimensions
used for the same phenomenon.
The conceptual framework developed based on the comprehensive literature review was
used as the foundation for data collection, analysis and reporting of the results. During
the study, these were further mapped into the literature related to significant aspects of the
disaster-resilient building guidelines that the constructors need to consider. To align the
existing tsunami-resilient building guidelines of Sri Lanka with the international context,
the American Society of Civil Engineers 7–16 standard (ASCE 7–16) was used as the
benchmark, linked with the International Building Codes (IBC). With the comparison of local
and international standards, new aspects were identified that have not been included in the
local guidelines. Finally, major headings were developed for the proposed tsunami-resilient
building guideline by incorporating IBC to expedite all the stakeholders in building
constructions of tsunami-prone areas in Sri Lanka. The new guideline will be open for
further developments and suggestions as it is based only on four main guidelines declared
by institutions related to tsunami-resilient building constructions. Figure 1 depicts the
flowchart of the adopted research methodology.

3. Findings
Very few sites and general planning guidelines are available specifically for post-tsunami
resettlement programs in countries like Sri Lanka and India (Ahmed and Mcevoy, 2014). In
such a situation, several Sri Lankan institutions have focused on tsunami-resilient building
construction in Sri Lanka after the devastation of December 2004. Among the announced
guidelines and standards by the Sri Lankan government and nongovernmental institutions,
the following institutions have covered a vast area from the properties of tsunami-resilient
building constructions.

3.1 National building research organization

The NBRO is a leading research and development institution in Sri Lanka and a reputed
technical services provider in geotechnical engineering, landslide risk management, human
settlements planning, environmental monitoring, building materials research and
engineering project management (NBRO, 2015).

3.2 National housing development authority

The NHDA is the apex housing organization in Sri Lanka, vested with the responsibility of
planning and implementing state interventions in the housing sector (NHDA, 2005).

3.3 Society of structural engineers Sri Lanka

The SSESL is a professional body for practicing engineers and academics active in
structural engineering in Sri Lanka (SSESL, 2005).
 Identify existing tsunami Sri Lankan
related building construction
guidelines in Sri Lanka
coastal belt
Content and Thematic Analysis

SSESL Conceptual Framework NBRO 457

Development
CC&CRMD NHDA

Identify major headings as

per the addressed aspects in
local guidelines

Explore international tsunami

resilient building construction
guidelines

Content and Thematic Analysis

Identify the most Yes No Check the

suitable heading to Align international aspects
with local aspects available in suitability for Sri
include the aspect Lankan context
guidelines
and add as a new
aspect to the
proposed guideline

Develop major headings for Figure 1.

the proposed guideline
Research
methodology
flowchart
Source: Author’s own creation

3.4 Coast conservation and coastal resource management department

The CC&CRMD is the prime agency to balance the coastal conservation objectives
(CC&CRMD, 2022).
Based on the interface of the existing tsunami-resilient guidelines in Sri Lanka, Figure 2
represents the relationship and linkage of those guidelines, which is used as the conceptual
framework for the foundation for data collection, analysis and reporting of the results.
Moreover, these were further mapped into the literature related to significant aspects of the
disaster-resilient building guidelines that the constructors need to consider.

3.5 Conceptual framework.

All aspects within the interface of existing guidelines were considered under a common
platform to identify the major headings for the proposed new guideline, which represents all
the aspects of tsunami-resilient buildings in the coastal belt of Sri Lanka. Further, the newly
proposed guideline consolidates all the existing local guidelines declared by NBRO, NHDA,
SSESL and CC&CRMD, together with a few additional aspects derived from the international
IJDRBE
14,4

458

Figure 2.
Conceptual
framework

context. Figure 2 represents how these existing guidelines are interconnected and duplicate the
factors that should be considered in the construction.
Consequently, it depicts that these institutions have addressed some similar aspects under
different definitions and headings in their guidelines. In Figure 2, the CC&CRMD mainly
focuses on the coastal landscape for coast conservation, while NHDA considers planning,
structural and physical infrastructure. Similarly, NBRO counts on general guidelines, planning
and structural and exterior structural aspects, while SSESL considers planning factors and
structural aspects, including procedures for low and multistory buildings.
In Brief, structural aspects are generally addressed by all existing guidelines, while
NBRO and SSESL specifically focus on the design and construction-related aspects that
must be considered in the initial decision-making of the construction in tsunami-prone cities.
Moreover, exterior structural guidelines are unique to NBRO guidelines, while NHDA
guidelines for housing development in coastal Sri Lanka only address the guidelines for
physical infrastructure. Also, there is a distinct focus on low and multistory buildings by
SSESL with essential requirements and desirable features of buildings.

4. Discussion
Since all these guidelines were developed after the tsunami devastation in December 2004,
there was a lack of a well-planned coastal and land use policy in Sri Lanka before 2004.
Further, the lack of solid construction guidance affected international donors during the
tsunami resettlement process (Franco et al., 2013).
As previously discussed, making cities resilient to disasters is an opportunity to improve
local governance, increase participation and foster a culture of safety and sustainable
urbanization. To achieve a resilient and sustainable urban community, local governments
take action to reduce the risks of disasters based on specific standards and tools. Another
longer-term objective of making cities resilient is to empower local governments with more
robust national policies to invest in risk reduction at a local level as part of urban and
regional development plans (Molin Valdes et al., 2013).
Thus, with all the guidelines for tsunami-resilient building constructions, the selected
existing local guidelines are prominent as they directly focus on tsunami-prone cities. As per
the findings, all the prevailing guidelines follow somewhat similar aspects but in different
forms under different headings. Accordingly, in the construction process of coastal areas, all
the existing tsunami-related guidelines must be referred to follow the legislative
requirements declared by relevant institutions, which are not practicable at all times.
 Guidelines declared by the CC&CRMD have all the specifications for coastal Sri Lankan
landscape and coastal vegetation, including plants and species to use as coast coastal belt
conservation mechanisms. Considering the NBRO, NHDA and SSESL guidelines, they
present more about the structural aspects of building constructions in tsunami-prone
areas. While NHDA further illustrates the factors related to physical infrastructure,
which are not particularly associated with tsunami-resilient buildings. However, these
provisions must be contained within the tsunami-resilient building standards in coastal
cities of Sri Lanka to improve their precision (NHDA, 2005). Since all these aspects align 459
with the UN-ISDR essentials 4, 6 and 8, Figure 3 indicates the relationship between
existing guidelines’ aspects and three selected essentials of UN-ISDR.
Accordingly, based on the local guidelines, in tsunami-resilient building
constructions, all aspects above in Figure 3 must be considered to regulate structures in
the coastal belt, which direct the built environment to withstand tsunami devastations
and enhance sustainability.
In the global context, the ASCE, council on earthquake disaster prevention – Japan, Federal
Emergency Management Agency , Honolulu Building Codes for Design and Construction
Standards for Residential Construction in Tsunami-Prone Areas in Hawaii and many other
institutions have established guidelines and countermeasures for tsunami-resilient buildings
(Nayak et al., 2014). The prime objective of these authorities is to protect and resist their built
environment from such calamities (Barbosa and Yeh, 2014; Nayak et al., 2014).
The countermeasures developed by CEPD – Japan research group (Shuto and Fujima,
2009) identified the aspects below, which can be incorporated with the proposed tsunami-
resilient building guideline.
Relocation of dwelling houses to high ground – This aspect has already been covered
under the NBRO (2015) and NHDA (2005) guidelines as one of the best measures against
tsunami catastrophes.

Major Aspects NBRO NHDA SSESL CC&

CRMD
01. General Requirements x
Planning Aspects
02. Buffer Zone x x Essential 4
03. Site Selection x x x Pursue resilient
04. Planning and Settlement x x urban
05. Plot size and Coverage x development
06. Roads x and design
07. Parking Requirements x
08. Shape and Orientation x x
09. Means of Evacuation x Essential 6
10. Design and Construction x Strengthen
Aspects institutional
Settlement Design Aspects capacity for
11. Spatial Aspects x resilience
Structural Aspects
12. Foundation x x x
13. Floor x
14. Wall x x x Essential 8
15. Openings x x Increase
16. Roof Structure x x infrastructure
17. Exterior Structure x resilience
18. Low-rise Multistorey Buildings x
19. Coastal Landscapes x
Figure 3.
20. Infrastructure Guidelines x
Major aspects of the
existing guidelines
Source: Authors’ own creation
IJDRBE Coastal dikes/Seawalls – Under the general requirements of NBRO (2015), this has been
14,4 considered in risk reduction measures as dikes against tsunamis may become too large and
financially impractical (Strusin ska-Correia, 2017).
Tsunami control forests – CC&CRMD guideline mentions aspects related to coastal
vegetation that may dampen the power of tsunamis.
Tsunami-resistant areas/Buffer zone – This aspect has been addressed by NHDA (2005) and
460 SSESL (2005) guidelines to prohibit construction in a designated coastal belt area.
Evacuation routes – NHDA (2005) has included the means of evacuation as roads to the
safe, high ground places of every coastal area.
Since ASCE 7-16 guideline is linked with IBC (Chock et al., 2018), ASCE 7–16 guidelines
is considered as the leading benchmark of this study to form the major headings of local
guideline, which is to be developed by amalgamating all the existing guidelines. Scope of the
ASCE Tsunami Design Provisions as per Chapter 6 in the 2016 edition of the ASCE 7
guideline includes “Tsunami loads and effects” with 15 major aspects as Table 1.
Consequently, while comparing the existing local and international guidelines, a clear gap
can be seen in hazard determination, indicating the building site’s depth and velocity. These
aspects have a higher concentration in IBC, such as the analysis of design inundation depth and
velocity; the inundation depth and flow velocity based on runup; and the inundation depth and
flow velocity based on site-specific probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis. Further, building
design requirements, such as hydrostatic loads and hydrodynamic loads; debris impact loads;
tsunami vertical evacuation refuge structures; designated nonstructural systems; and
nonbuilding structures are not specifically integrated with the locally available guidelines
except the NBRO (2015), the requirement of professional advice related to tsunami currents and
waves, water pressures, buoyancy, ground shaking due to earthquakes or tremors, debris
impact, scour, erosion, ground failure and fire.
After identifying these gaps after a comprehensive content analysis, it is noted that in local
guidelines, aspects covered by the four selected institutions report scores between 1 and 20, as
per Figure 4. With the currently practicing aspects in the existing guidelines, most aspects are
covered by the NHDA, which is 13 out of 20. The SSESL covers the second most aspects, 9 out
of 20. Finally, 9 and 1 out of 20 are covered by NBRO and CC&CRMD, respectively.

No. Major aspects of ASCE 7 NBRO NHDA SSESL CC&CRMD

01 General requirements X
02 Definitions, symbols and notations
03 Tsunami risk categories
04 Analysis of design inundation depth and velocity
05 Inundation depth and flow velocity based on runups
06 Inundation depth and flow velocity based on site-specific
probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis
07 Structural design procedures for tsunami effects X X X
08 Hydrostatic loads
09 Hydrodynamic loads
10 Debris Impact loads
Table 1. 11 Foundation design X X X
Aspects of ASCE 7– 12 Structural countermeasures for tsunami loading X X X
13 Tsunami vertical evacuation refuge structures X
16 tsunami loads and 14 Designated nonstructural systems
effects guideline with 15 Nonbuilding structures
existing local
guidelines Source: Authors’ own creation
 Number of Aspects Covered /Major Local Aspects 20 Sri Lankan
Number of Aspects Covered /Major Intenational Aspects 15 coastal belt
NBRO
14
12
10
8
6 461
4
2
SSESL 0 CC&CRMD

Figure 4.
The evaluation
results of aspects
covered by local and
NHDA
international
guidelines
Source: Author’s own creation

Concerning the international guidelines, 15 significant aspects were identified in Table 1.

Comparing them with the local context, only a few aspects are covered in existing local
guidelines. Under the local guidelines, hazard determination at the building site; hydrostatic
and hydrodynamic loads; debris impact loads; tsunami vertical evacuation refuge structures;
designated nonstructural systems; and nonbuilding structures have not been addressed with a
high priority compared to the international tsunami-resilient building guidelines. Thus, it
elaborates on the gap between local and international tsunami-resilient building guidelines in
Table 1. This gap must be filled in local guidelines as the inundation depth and velocity
analysis is a critical factor in tsunami-resilient building guidelines, as argued by Nayak et al.
(2014). Moreover, hydrostatic and hydrodynamic loads; debris impact loads; tsunami vertical
evacuation refuge structures; designated nonstructural systems; and nonbuilding structures
must be incorporated with the local guidelines since all these are included in ASCE 7–16
guideline, which is linked with the IBC. This gap is graphically presented in Figure 4 based on
the four main institutional guidelines selected for the study.
Since the NHDA guideline includes structural and nonstructural aspects, such as
planning, designing and infrastructural provisions, it covers many aspects from the 20
aspects identified in the local context. Comparatively, SSESL and NBRO guidelines cover a
lesser number of aspects from the total amount as they fundamentally focused on the
structural and planning aspects. While matching these local guidelines with the
international guidelines, very few intersectional aspects are included in the local context,
where other major international aspects are to be merged with.
Consequently, the currently practicing local guidelines have a vague set of aspects
focused on some similar directions. For example, NBRO, NHDA and SSESL guidelines
include all structural aspects, site selection guidelines and buffer zone requirements. But
only NBRO includes the building shapes, orientation and exterior structural guidelines.
Similarly, only NHDA includes the roads, parking and other infrastructural aspects, while
CC&CRMD only includes all the coastal conservation and landscape-related guidelines. The
SSESL has the specific aspect of low-rise multistory buildings-related guidelines, which are
IJDRBE not included in any other local guidelines. Thus, the necessity of a consolidated local
14,4 guideline for tsunami-resilient buildings has emerged with these distinct but similar aspects.
The following section discusses all these aspects covered by existing local guidelines in a
recapitulated version.

4.1 Major aspects included in the existing guidelines

462 4.1.1 General guidelines. As per the NBRO (2015) guideline, it is best to avoid areas at risk of
a tsunami. Where development is unavoidable within a tsunami-prone area and permitted
by the concerned authorities, the structures should be designed to minimize the damages
from tsunami waves by creating barriers like designed forests and green belts, ditches and
slopes. Blocking tsunami waves and steering away from the tsunami forces by angled walls,
ditches and paved surfaces also reduces the tsunami risk coursed due to currents reaching
land. Moreover, the guideline emphasizes that placing the structure on the high side of the
land and raising the structure above tsunami inundation level by using stilts/piers or
hardened podiums also reduce the damage which can occur during a tsunami incident. From
all selected local guidelines, NBRO (2015) is the only guideline that has included these
general aspects to avoid, reduce or eliminate the tsunami risk. Considering the international
context, ASCE 7–16 guideline consists of these general requirements. Thus, including
general requirements for avoiding, reducing or eliminating tsunami risks in the consolidated
guideline will be the best approach to disseminate the following discussed requirements.
Guidelines for planning aspects
4.1.2 Buffer zone. As per the NHDA (2005) and SSESL (2005), 100 m landwards from the mean
high-water line in Killinochchi, Puttlam, Gampaha, Colombo, Kalutara, Galle, Matara,
Hambantota districts and 200 m landwards from the mean high-water line in the coastal belt
within the Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara districts should be considered
as the buffer zone. Due to this post-tsunami buffer zone policy in Sri Lanka, rebuilding along the
coastal belt was restricted and 43,000 new houses on 387 sites were constructed outside the
buffer zone (Ahmed and McEvoy, 2014). Thus, as a strategy for reducing tsunami risk exposure
emphasized by (Løvholt et al., 2014), the criteria have to be included in the proposed guideline.
4.1.3 Site selection. According to the guidelines of SSESL (2005), NHDA (2005) and
NBRO (2015), in site selection, the following factors in Table 2 must be concerned in the
construction of the coastal belt.
4.1.4 Planning of settlements. According to the guideline of CC&CRMD (2007), creating a
coastal vegetation belt to avoid and minimize wave damage and damage from debris is the
primary and most initial precaution that the urban planners of tsunami-prone cities can
take. More elaborately, NHDA (2005) has emphasized the requirement of comprehensive
planning to ensure the development is in an area for residential land use. Further, as per
NBRO (2015), it is desirable to provide an apron around the house to minimize erosion and
undermining of foundations. Under the planning of settlements in tsunami-resilient
buildings in the coastal belt of Sri Lanka, these factors must be included in the consolidated
guideline with a standard format.
4.1.5 Plot size and coverage. Among the selected local guidelines, only NHDA (2005)
includes the plot size and general requirements for individual houses where pipe-borne
water supply and sewage disposal are unavailable. Table 3 indicates the specific dimensions
that must be included in the proposed tsunami-resilient building guideline.
4.1.6 Roads. Similar to the plot size and coverage, only NHDA (2005) indicates the access
roads provisions governed by the number of housing plots in the subdivision, as in Table 4.
Do’s Do not’s
Sri Lankan
coastal belt
To provide natural shielding, areas behind mounds or Include locations near rivers and waterways,
vegetation are preferred (SSESL, 2005) lagoons and bays, etc., connected to the sea and
along which the tsunami waves could reach the
land (NBRO, 2015)
Located on a high ground desirably well above the Subsoils must not be prone to failure in bearing
possible tsunami inundation level (3 m above the mean capacity that may be caused by the sudden rise
463
high-water line) (SSESL, 2005; NHDA, 2005) in pore water pressure in the soil (NBRO, 2015)
If the ground is sloping toward the sea, locate the Construct within the reservation area, and
structure on the higher side of the land (NBRO, 2015) buildings should be located to avoid the coastal
reservation area and restricted zone (Coast
Conservation Act, 1981; NBRO, 2015)
The ground should have a suitable bearing stratum to
construct stable foundations (NBRO, 2015)
When sitting on sufficiently high ground is not possible,
the house may be constructed on stilts, or the created
high ground may be made up of a thoroughly compacted
earthen embankment (SSESL, 2005; NBRO, 2015)
Table 2.
Source: Authors’ own creation Site selection criteria

Plot area G þ 1 (Up to 2 Storeys) G þ 2 (3 Storeys)

Minimum road width 10’ 10’

Front space 3’ 3’
Rear space 7’ 6” (2.3m) 10’ 0” (3.0 m) Table 3.
Plot size and
Source: Authors’ own Creation coverage

Max. no of lots Max. length of road Min. width of road including drain Building line

04 50 m 3 m (Drain on One side) Min 1 m

08 100 m 4.5 m (Drain on One side) Min 1 m
20 – 6.0 m (Drain on One side with pavements) Min 1 m
>20 – 9.0 m (Drain and pavements on both sides) Min 1 m
Table 4.
Source: Guidelines for housing development in Coastal Sri Lanka (2005) Road provisions

As argued by Paulik et al. (2020), locations and routes are crucial factors in tsunami
evacuation procedures. Thus, these dimensions must be integrated into the road
construction process in tsunami-prone areas and the consolidated guideline.
4.1.7 Parking requirements. The floor area of the housing units or flats governs the
parking space provision. Each parking unit should be of a minimum size of 2.4 m
4.8 m. This
is indicated only in the NHDA (2005) guideline specifying coastal constructions as per Table 5.
To optimize the land use pattern, these requirements can also be a great aspect in the new
developing guideline for tsunami-resilient buildings in Sri Lanka.
IJDRBE 4.1.8 Shape and orientation. As per NBRO (2015), the building’s aspect ratio/length-to-width
14,4 ratio should not exceed three. Further, the said guideline has emphasized that a circular or oval-
shaped plan is always desirable. But since it is usually not practical, simple shapes such as
square or rectangular plans can be adopted in realistic scenarios and orient the building with its
shorter side facing the direction of tsunami waves. Moreover, this factor has been included in the
guidelines of SSESL (2005), with the information on aspect ratio. Therefore, to create uniqueness
464 in the coastal belt of Sri Lanka, this can be a novel factor and a risk reduction measure in tsunami-
resilient buildings, which must also be included in the proposed guideline.
4.1.9 Means of evacuation. Evacuation paths and points are included only in the NHDA
(2005) guideline, which should be considered when preparing layouts within vulnerable
areas. As per the guideline, evacuation paths should be opposite and perpendicular to the
sea and demarcated in the design. Compared to the international context, this factor
comprises the ASCE 7–16 guideline, also known as the IBC. This aspect will also be a value-
adding point to the consolidated tsunami-resilient guideline in Sri Lanka.
4.1.10 Guidelines for design and construction. Regarding NBRO (2015), the design of a
tsunami-resilient building must comply with a qualified engineer’s professional advice by
addressing various forces and expected conditions. Further, the guideline has been
highlighted that professional advice should be associated with tsunami currents and waves,
water pressures, buoyancy, ground shaking due to earthquakes or tremors, debris impact,
scour, erosion, ground failure and fire.
Although these aspects are only included in NBRO (2015) guideline, it is recommended to
incorporate them descriptively in the proposed guideline, as ASCE 7–16 contains these
aspects with hydrostatic loads, hydrodynamic loads and debris impact loads.
Guidelines for settlement design
4.1.11 Spatial aspects. According to NHDA (2005), regulations must be stipulated for the
siting, with below spatial requirements of Table 6 in housing construction.

Housing category Parking requirement

Flats, dwelling units (excluding individual housing units) and 1 for every 3 housing units
terraced houses having a floor area of up to 50 m2 (538 ft2)
Flats with gross floor area between 50 and 75 m2 (538–807 ft2) 1 for every 2 housing units
Flats with a gross floor area of less than 100 m2 (1,076 ft2) 1 for each housing unit
Dwelling units exceeding a floor area of 200 m2 (2,152 ft2)
Table 5. Flats exceeding a gross floor area of 200 m2 (2,152 ft2) 3 for every 2 housing units
Parking
requirements Source: Guidelines for housing development in Coastal Sri Lanka (2005)

Type of space Mandatory minimum standard Height

Kitchen Min. width–2 m; Min area–5 m2 9’2” (2.8 m)

Storage/utility area 2.5 m2 7’4” (2.2 m)
Lavatories, water closets and bathrooms with pedestal-type closet fittings–1.7 m
0.8 m 7’4” (2.2 m)
Other than pedestal-type – 1.3 m
0.8m
Living, Bedroom 9’2” (2.8 m)
Table 6.
Spatial requirements Source: Guidelines for housing development in Coastal Sri Lanka (2005)
 4.1.11.1 Structural considerations. Sri Lankan
4.1.12 Foundation. Foundation specifications are included in all selected guidelines. The coastal belt
SSESL (2005) has emphasized that buildings can have shallow foundations on stiff sandy
soil. Thus, when scouring is at risk due to storm surge, a minimum depth of foundation
1 m – 1.5 m below natural ground level should be provided in the coastal zone (NHDA,
2005; SSESL, 2005).
The stilts should be braced appropriately in both principal directions when constructed on
stilts because it provides stability to the complete building under lateral loads. Knee braces 465
are preferable to entire diagonal bracing not to obstruct the passage of floating debris
during tidal surges/tsunamis (NHDA, 2005; SSESL, 2005; NBRO, 2015). Further, wall
foundations should have a width of 2.5 times the thickness of the wall, which is not less than
0.6 m in any event. Footings should be constructed in stone or cement blocks but not in
brickwork. The plinth height should not be less than 0.45 m above natural ground level or as
per topography requirements, and the columns should be founded on pad footings (NHDA,
2005; SSESL, 2005).
4.1.13 Floor. The floor slab must be designed to resist warping and lifting under
buoyant pressures in case of tsunamis (NBRO, 2015).
4.1.14 Walls. It is desirable to use internal cross-walls perpendicular to the walls facing
the sea or the tsunami waves (NBRO, 2015). All external walls or wall panels must be
designed to withstand the out-of-plane lateral pressure adequately. In addition, the walls
should be sufficiently buttressed by transverse walls (NHDA, 2005; SSESL, 2005).
A small building enclosure with properly interconnected walls is ideal. Long walls
should be avoided as much as possible while reinforcing walls using at least one horizontal
reinforced concrete band at the lintel level (NHDA, 2005; SSESL, 2005).
The load-bearing and external wall thickness should not be less than 200 mm, while other
walls can be 100 mm. If external walls are 100 mm thick, they must be solid cement blockwork
or brickwork. Since tensile and shear strength is important for lateral resistance of masonry
walls, the use of mud or lean mortars must be avoided (NHDA, 2005; SSESL, 2005).
As SSESL (2005), the freestanding wall height should not be greater than 3 m and
wherever possible, sea-facing walls should be braced by cross walls so that the length of the
unsupported wall does not exceed 3 m.
4.1.15 Openings. Sea-facing openings should be avoided or minimized and located away
from the corners with a clear distance of at least 25% of the opening height. Similarly, large
openings on the seaward should be avoided as they permit flooding and weaken the wall.
The total length of openings should not exceed 50% of the wall length in single-story
construction. In addition, the horizontal distance between two openings should not be less
than 50% of the height of the shorter opening or 600 mm. Further, it is desirable to provide
reinforced bands or ties around the openings, and the frames should be well-anchored in the
walls (NHDA, 2005; SSESL, 2005).
4.1.16 Roof. Lightweight low-pitched roofs should be firmly held down to purlins, with
fastenings spaced not exceeding 1.5 m in both directions. Similarly, purlins must be tied to
the rafters, the rafters to the wall plate and the wall plate to the reinforcement from the walls.
Pitched roofs with slopes of 22° to 30° will reduce the force on roofs and facilitate rapid
rainwater drainage. The wall plate should be held down by 10 mm threaded bars cast into
the roof beams at around 1.5 m centers; the bars should have an L-bend of approximately
100 mm. Where the cantilevers cannot be avoided, they should be well-anchored to protect
them (NHDA, 2005; SSESL, 2005).
Although the structural specifications can differ with the regional geographical aspects,
ASCE 7–16 guideline also includes the structural elements’ guidelines for tsunami-resilient
IJDRBE building constructions. Thus, these structural specifications are essential for the proposed
14,4 consolidated guideline.
4.1.17 Exterior structure. According to NBRO (2015), it shall be structurally
strengthened to prevent the exterior structure from being damaged or collapsing due to
waterborne debris. Boundary walls must brace in two directions with reinforced concrete
columns and beams, while water tanks must be elevated on reinforced and braced concrete
466 columns. A circular shape would be more suitable for ground tanks.
4.1.18 Low-rise and multistory buildings. Concerning SSESL (2005), a building must
have a concrete frame structure and should not depend only on load-bearing masonry if
there is a flood risk. A plinth beam that connects all columns is essential, and enough infill
walls should brace the concrete frame in two perpendicular directions. Corner footings prone
to scour should be deepened to around 2 m below ground level, and scouring at building
corners should be resisted by using aprons that are well-constructed. Further, soil
improvement can also be considered, like routing, soil stabilization or geotextiles.
Infill walls in two mutually perpendicular directions should be provided at building
corners. The ground floor of buildings in the coastal zone should have an open plan
used only for activities with short-term human habitation, like a meeting hall, open
storage space or even a classroom. This will reduce vulnerability and allow floodwaters
to pass without overloading the structure. Further, upper floors should be designed for
imposed loads of at least 3 kN/m2.
4.1.19 Coastal landscape. According to CC&CRMD (2007), the coastal landscape is
crucial for tsunami resilience. Therefore, the landscape proposal, outline and detailed design,
including construction and planting details, should be prepared corresponding to the coastal
area. Though this aspect is not included in the other selected guidelines, the aspect must be
incorporated into the proposed guideline due to its importance, as argued by
(Sooriyaarachchi et al., 2018).
4.1.20 Guidelines on the provision of infrastructure. Furthermore, concerning NHDA
(2005), general provisions for infrastructure like water, electricity, telecommunication,
wastewater disposal, stormwater disposal and solid waste disposal should be considered
like constructions in regular conditions.
Accordingly, while including all these locally available aspects as per the existing
guidelines of NBRO (2015), NHDA (2005), SSESL (2005) and CC&CRMD (2007), some
internationally recognized tsunami-resilient building aspects can also be recommended for
the proposed tsunami-resilient building guideline for Sri Lanka as discussed next.

4.2 Recommended major aspects to be included in the consolidated guideline with the
integration of international context.
With reference to Table 1, the comparison of the local guidelines with the major aspects of
ASCE 7–16 guidelines reveals a few noticeable points that must be integrated with local
guidelines as:
4.2.1 Hazard determination at building sites. Under this aspect, a design inundation
depth and velocity analysis must be incorporated with the inundation depth and flow
velocity based on runup. Moreover, the inundation depth and flow velocity based on site-
specific probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis should be included in the consolidated
guideline as integrated into the international context.
4.2.2 Design and construction aspects. Systematic integration is required for the new
guideline regarding hydrostatic, hydrodynamic and debris impact loads, as these are highly
significant factors during tsunami devastations according to the ASCE 7–16 guideline.
 Consequently, the below list represents all the possible major aspects recommended for Sri Lankan
the proposed tsunami-resilient building guideline of Sri Lanka. coastal belt
(1) General Requirements
(2) Hazard Determination at Building sites
 Analysis of Design Inundation Depth and Velocity
 Inundation Depth and Flow Velocity Based on Runup
 Inundation Depth and Flow Velocity Based on Site-Specific Probabilistic
467
Tsunami Hazard Analysis
(3) Planning Aspects
 Buffer Zone
 Site Selection
 Planning and Settlement
 Plot size and Coverage
 Roads
 Parking Requirements
 Shape and Orientation
 Means of Evacuation
(4) Design and Construction Aspects
 Hydrostatic Loads
 Hydrodynamic Loads
 Debris Impact Loads
(5) Settlement Design Aspects
 Spatial Aspects
(6) Structural Aspects
 Foundation
 Floor
 Wall
 Openings
 Roof Structure
(7) Exterior Structure
(8) Low-rise Multistorey Buildings
(9) Coastal Landscapes
(10) Infrastructure Guidelines

5. Conclusion
Tsunami is a low-frequency, high-impact disaster where the structures of vulnerable areas
tend to be destroyed due to the water force, wind force, high-velocity water flow, debris
impact, fire on floating debris, unexpected erosion and scour of foundations. Hence,
adhering to a standard guideline that enhances sustainable tsunami-resilient construction is
highly required for coastal cities in Sri Lanka. However, although several institutions like
NBRO, NHDA, SSESL and CC&CRMD have attempted to construct tsunami-resilient
IJDRBE building guidelines in Sri Lanka, all those guidelines follow institutional aspects rather than
14,4 standardized guidelines with a specific set of major aspects. Therefore, a standardized
guideline that includes fundamentally affecting factors for tsunami-resilient buildings is
proposed for the Sri Lankan context to minimize the duplication and replication of existing
tsunami-resilient guidelines. Conversely, rather than referring to several institutional
guidelines for a particular construction purpose in the tsunami-prone cities of Sri Lanka, this
468 proposed consolidated guideline, as per the aforementioned list, can be applied to assess the
level of resilience in the coastal built environment. Moreover, it helps to strengthen
construction standardization and eventually expand the opportunities for the built
environment to be more sustainable from the disaster-resilience. Further, this study can be
expanded as an integrative valuation method for evaluating the level of tsunami-resilient
buildings in the Sri Lankan coastal belt, which is essential to ensure the information from
the grassroots level.

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Corresponding author
Udari Gunarathna can be contacted at: udari.gunaratne@gmail.com

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