Dialog Powers Location Based ‘Sayuru’, Free Weather Alert and Warning Service for Fishermen

Photographed from Left to Right: Hon. Namal Rajapaksa, Member of Parliament, Mr. Supun Weerasinghe Group Cheif Executive Officer, Dialog Axiata PLC, Hon. Mahinda Rajapakse, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Hon. Douglas Devananda, Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Hon. Sanath Nishantha, State Minister of Fisheries and Inland Fisheries Industry, and Hon. Mahinda Amaraweera, Cabinet Minister of Transportation, Power and Energy.

Dialog Axiata PLC, Sri Lanka’s premier connectivity provider launched ‘Sayuru’ a free, tri-lingual and fully-fledged SMS and Voice messages based weather and warning service for fishermen across coastal communities developed by Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in partnership with the Department of Meteorology.

A considerable amount of the total population in the coastal areas make a living through fishing, and the unpredictable weather conditions have had an adverse effect on their livelihoods. ‘Sayuru’ was developed to minimise risks for fishermen by providing a platform for these communities to get accurate information and alerts, instantly. The system is designed to provide location based updates on weather and other alerts to fishermen through SMS and Voice messages. It provides on-time weather forecasts to registered fishermen through SMS and Voice, and is programmed to send emergency alerts (SMS and Voice) for possible weather disasters.

The service was launched on 28th February 2020, at the Tangalle Harbour, by Hon. Mahinda Rajapaksa MP, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. ‘Sayuru’ delivers accurate and location based weather-based information to fishermen where the content is provided by Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Development and delivered by the Department of Meteorology in partnership with Dialog Axiata acting as the platform provider.

Commenting on the launch of ‘Sayuru’, Supun Weerasinghe, Group Chief Executive of Dialog Axiata PLC said, “We are honoured to facilitate the ‘Sayuru’, a trilingual service which will safeguard the lives of the coastal fisheries communities. This weather alert and warning service will be offered free of charge, in line with Dialog’s ethos of consistently empowering and enriching Sri Lankan lives - similar to the digitally inclusive and accessible solutions we have powered previously, including the Disaster Emergency Warning Network (DEWN) service to deliver crucial alerts to the entire country.

“Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources is proud to partner with Dialog to bring this service to the fisheries community. Day boat fishermen are the majority of the fisheries communities and therefore their safety is of utmost importance to us. This marks the first time SMS and voice calls will be used to disseminate critical messages.” said, Prasanna Ginige Janaka Kumara, Director General, Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

“The Department of Meteorology is proud to support other government institutes such as Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to carry out their mandates to protect these communities by providing weather related information. We are thankful to Dialog for developing technological platforms to disseminate the information to the necessary communities. We are focused on providing most reliable information by sending geo-targeted alerts to the users.” said, Anusha Warnasuriya, Director, Climate Change and Research.

To register for this service offered free of charge, Dialog mobile subscribers s can simply dial ‘828’, send ‘ACT’ to ‘828’ or activate the service via the MyDialog App.