EMERGING ISSUES
Body to enforce coastal regulations on the anvil
Coimbatore, Jan. 25. The Union Government was in the process of constituting a National Coastal Zone Regulatory Authority to monitor and enforce the coastal regulation rules, the Union Environment and Forest Minister, A. Raja said here today.
The Minister told newsperpons that shortly after the tsunami, the Centre formed a high-level committee led by M.S. Swaminathan, chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, to make more stringent the rules of the Coastal Zone Regulatory Act. The Committee looked into various aspects, including constructions along the coastal areas coming in three different zones under the Act.
The Committee was expected to submit its recommendations by this month end, following which the Centre would constitute the regulatory authority. Similarly, soon after the tsunami, the Ministry held a meeting with experts from various departments and feasibility of various disaster prevention measures, including creation of mangrove reserve forests was discussed. To a query on the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa’s demand for construction of retainer walls along the shore, the Minister said if the need for such walls was scientifically established, there was nothing wrong in going in for it.
On the threat to ecology, especially to marine life and coral reefs, from the Sethusamudram Project, Mr. Raja said the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute had cleared the project in its Ecological Impact Assessment Report. Hence, there was no need for any apprehension on this count.
To a query on the National River Conservation Programme, the Minister said the ministry had already spent Rs. 4,200 crores for cleaning up the rivers during the current plan period. Another Rs. 400 crores would be sought for completing ongoing projects. Another Rs. 12,000 crores would be sought to take up NRCP works over the next five years. The Centre had sanctioned Rs. 28 crores for cleaning the Cooum River in Chennai.
To a query on afforestation measures, the Minister said the present 22 percent forst cover would research the target of 33 percent within the next five years. There was a two percent increase in forest cover in the last four to five years and the southern states had done well in the afforestation drive.
Need for inundation hazard maps to meet tsunami threat
Hyderabad, Feb. 9. The tsunami waves that battered the Nagappatinam coast on December 26 within a few hours of an earthquake off the Sumatra coast were more than 17-foot high, a study has concluded.
The study, which measured the tsunami run-up heights, the inundation areas and the damage caused along the Tamil Nadu coast, found that the waves attained a maximum height of 5.2 metres at Nagappattinam and a minimum of 2.5 metres at Devanaampatnam. Run-up heights are the maximum vertical distance reached by a tsunami wave and the estimation is based on physical evidence such as watermarks and debris carried inland.
The study was carried out by scientists of the National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, in collaboration with the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai, and the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, United States.
According to their report, the maximum loss of life and damage occurred within 100 metres of the shore. “Wherever the shoreline rises steeply or is protected by mangroves, the damage less pronounced. But all along the shallow beaches, the damage was severe”.
At Devanaampatnam, where the waves were not very high, many lives were lost due to the topography of the beach. The combination of a local high run-up, low topography and dense development apparently accounted for the heavy loss of lives and property.
R.K. Chadha, team member and NGRI seismologist, told The Hindu that the undulating topography with small valley-like structures facilitated the entry of water inland. He stressed the need for detailed inundation hazard maps for the east coast identifying such “red areas” as they are likely to be affected by earthquakes in Sumatra and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The report said that a detailed survey was carried out at 11 locations along a 350-km coast from Pulicat to Vedaranyam. High water marks were estimated from the highest elevations of several different indicators. Maximum surge elevations were also measured and found to vary between 3.8 and six metres. It was found that the maximum inundation ranged between 140 and 800 metres from the swash zone.
Mr. Chadha said that internationality standardized procedures were followed in the study.