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: The tsunami of December 26 is the fourth largest trembler in the world since 1900 and Asia’s worst earthquake since 1970. The quake which caused the tsunami measured 9.0 on open ended Richter scale. The tsunami effect touched even the east Coast of Africa on the same day. According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the tsunami effect, after occurring at 6.40 am IST off the west Sumatra coast, took about two hours to reach Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar Islands and three-and-half hours to reach Chennai coast. Experts believe that a suitable monitoring system could have avoided some of the colossal damages already caused.
World heritage
Gujarat has asked the Union government to plead with Unesco to declare Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park as a World Cultural Heritage Site. Unesco has recently accorded the same status to Champaner-Pavagadh.
The Gujarat government is developing Gir Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park as a spot for eco-tourism. An estimated 100,000 tourists visit this place every year. The state government feels that the number of tourists will increase if the place is declared as a World Cultural Heritage Site.
Community Reserves
Goa forest department is planning to acquire about 16 hectare of land adjacent to two prominent turtle nesting beaches of Galgibag (14 hectare) and Morjin (two hectare) to declare them as ‘community reserves’ for turtle protection with the help and participation of the local communities.
The threat to nestling turtles is largely from increased tourism and development projects.
NGOs like Kalpavriksh say that there is a misconception about interpretation of ‘community reserves’. Community reserves under the Wild Life Protection Act is so restricted site as to be almost meaningless in the case of most community conservation initiatives. Besides, community reserves cannot be on government lands. Most of the beach stretches are government land. “Indeed, the move of the Goa forest department is a bit strange. Does it mean the government is set to acquire land? The provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act will not allow the state government to declare community reserves here,” they say.
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