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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Mangrove as tsunami shield? Debate flares by GS Mudur

Mangrove as tsunami shield? Debate flares by GS Mudur

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published Published on Mar 22, 2011   modified Modified on Mar 22, 2011
The tsunami in Japan has rekindled a debate on coastal protection with sections of scientists claiming that bad science has been used to wrongly portray mangroves as bioshields against tsunamis and waves from cyclones.

Sections of environmental scientists and oceanographers have said the best defence appears to be mounds of sand and mud, and cautioned that it would be misleading to promote coastal vegetation as barriers against giant waves.

In the wake of the tsunami-triggered nuclear crisis in Japan, India’s environment ministry has asked panels of experts to recommend safeguards to protect critical infrastructure projects along the coastline from possible tsunamis.

Since the Southeast Asian tsunami of 2004 that killed more than 230,000 people in 11 countries, independent research teams have argued that mangroves serve as guardians against tsunamis and storm surges — giant waves — triggered by cyclones.

But some researchers say there isn’t enough evidence to support this idea.

“It may be well-meaning naivety and a measure of bad science,” said Ravinder Bhalla, an ecologist based in Puducherry with the Foundation for Ecological Research Advocacy and Learning, a non-government organisation.

Bhalla and his colleagues working with researchers at the James Cook University in Australia had three years ago challenged several scientific studies that had claimed trees and marine vegetation reduced damage to coastal communities.

Their analysis indicated that the earlier studies had not taken into account factors such as seabed features and distances of coastal villages from the shore that determine the destruction and deaths caused by giant waves.

“Tsunami waves carry enormous kinetic energy — their speeds are comparable to those of commercial aircraft,” said Prasad Bhaskaran, an oceanographer at IIT Kharagpur. “They’re not going to be stopped by vegetation.”

Research indicates that sand dunes along the shoreline or thick layers of soft mud on the seabed just off the coast may serve as speedbreakers for tsunamis or storm surges.

“Sand mounds may act as wave dampers — we’ve had examples of offshore shoals protecting villages,” said M.A. Atmanand, director of the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai. “We may create offshore shoals by placing sand in sea depths of five metres to 10 metres. But the sand will need to be replenished every two or three years,” Atmanand said.

But some oceanographers argue that it would be wrong to underestimate the role of vegetation in protecting the coasts. “It is not proper to jump to a conclusion either way,” said Satish Shetye, director of the National Institute of Oceanography, Goa.

The Telegraph, 22 March, 2011, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110322/jsp/nation/story_13747400.jsp


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