Tsunami mitigation: need to improve coastal ecology

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: reported.”

Scientists say that the frequency of natural disasters like storm surges, cyclones and tsunamis has increased on account of the damages done to the ecology. Environmental degradation has induced a global climate change and consequent rise in sea levels. The danger is almost knocking at our door!

The impact of natural disasters is becoming severe on account of destruction of coastal ecology. Since 1980s Asian sea coasts began destroying its ecology to pave the way for industrial aquaculture, unsustainable tourism (in place of eco-tourism) and coastal township for trade and commerce. The encouragement to develop industrial aquaculture came from the West and the Bretton Wood twins in the name of development.

Almost all of the northern oceans are over-exploited. The developed countries need seafoods for consumption. The only way was to encourage the Third World countries to exploit their oceans to satisfy the selfish needs of the North.

India too fell into the trap and diluted its norms for the coastal regulation zones (CRZs). Coastal mangrove cover was reduced to less than a third of its original in the past three decade, not knowing the fact that each acre of mangrove forest destroyed results in an estimated 676 pound loss in marine harvest!

Mangroves and coral reefs are the armour which safeguards the coasts from effects of tsunamis, storm surges and cyclones. Not only that it serves as a nursery for the tree-fourth of the commercial fish species that spend part of their life cycle in the mangrove swamps.

Let’s see how the mangroves have mitigated the damages. Nias island in Indonesia is close to the epicentre of December 26 Tsunami. The damage here was less on account of mangroves. The damage done in Pichavaram and Nuthupet (having mangrove cover) in Tamil Nadu is very low.

In 1960 when tidal waves hit Bangladesh coast where mangroves were intact, there was not a single loss of human life. But after the destruction of mangroves when a tidal wave hit the same in 1991, thousands of people lost their lives. The mangroves of Bhiterkanika in Orissa could mitigate the effects of Super Cyclone of October 1999.