Tsunami mitigation: need to improve coastal ecology

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: The Tsunami tidal waves have done extensive damage to coastal agriculture and fisheries. The death toll in the country has risen to 10,714 as per most conservative official estimate. The number of missing, including fishermen is estimated at 5,669, out of which 5,583 are from Andaman & Nicobar Islands alone.

Tsunami tidal waves were generated from the epicentre of an earthquake in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra on December 26, 2004 at 6.40 am IST. The intensity of the quake was 8.9 on Richter scale. It was the fourth largest trembler in the world since 1900 and Asia’s worst earthquake since 1970. The Tsunami tidal waves not only affected coastal belts in south and southeast Asia, it also touched the east coasts of Africa.

According to reports, aftershocks are still continuing. In India alone 131 aftershocks have been felt so far, out of which 120 were of greater than 0.5 intensity on Richter scale and 11 were of greater than 6.0 intensity on the Richter scale.

This situation has caused the Union minister of science and technology, Kapil Sibal to convene a two-day meeting of related scientific institutions in the country from January 21 for evolving an effective warning situation. Right! We must have an effective warning system in place. But the most important issue is that of mitigation. A strong coastal ecology can mitigate and minimise likely disasters to be caused by tsunami, cyclones, storm surges.

Cyclones and storm surges are new in this country. Every year such disasters occur taking heavy toll on lives. Tsunamis, too, have occured in this country, even though Mr Sibal says that there occurrences were rare. Mr Sibal records only two tsunamis occurring in India: one in 326 BC when the forces of the Greek invader, Alexander the Great were presumed to be killed on account of its effect and the other in 1883.

However, noted US geologist Dr George Pararas-Carayannis says: “Destructive tsunamis are not uncommon in the Bay of Bengal or along the Sunda Trench. On June 26, 1941, a devastating earthquake in the Andaman Sea, with a Richter magnitude greater than 8.0 generated a major tsunami that killed more than 5,000 people on the east coast of India.