Backwaters, narrow land stretches make Kerala more vulnerable to tsunamis: INCOIS

According to experts at INCOIS, all Indian coastal Union Territories and states are prone to tsunamis emanating from the two subduction zones: the Andaman-Nicobar-Sumatra Island Arc and the Makran subduction zone. The areas having a response time of up to 30 minutes are locations like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which will be situated near the source region in the Indian Ocean in case of an earthquake. Whereas, areas located farther from the source regions, like the Indian mainland, could get up to two hours of response time.

With a total coastline of about 560 km, Kerala has 46.13 square km of estuaries and backwaters in addition to two freshwater lakes. Except for three, the rest of the 41 perennial rivers of the state get emptied into the Lakshadweep Sea. With large portions of its land under water, the challenge posed in the wake of a tsunami event will be huge.

“Kerala has many backwaters, narrow land-stretches that lie between the backwater and the sea. When tsunami waves strike, coastal villages and the immediate inland regions would be more vulnerable than, say, villages of Odisha, where there are ‘tsunami ready’ communities now. While some lessons can be common between Odisha and Kerala, still, the local administration in Kerala will need to adopt different strategies while planning and executing evacuation,” T M Balakrishnan Nair, Director, INCOIS, told The Indian Express.

INCOIS and the United Kingdom Research and Innovation are presently in their second year of collaboration, which envisions to strengthen research, modelling, and forecasting of tsunamis, also triggered by non-seismic causes, apart from working with vulnerable communities and training them in being ‘tsunami ready’.

An international delegation is in Kochi for a week-long engagement titled ‘People-centric tsunami early-warning for Indian coastlines’. The Kochi meet, ending on April 11, will host tsunami-centric scientific and public outreach deliberations in the presence of experts from India, the UK, Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Singapore, Spain, and more. In addition, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and villagers from Edavanakkad (suburb of Kochi) in the Ernakulam district are attending the event. Edavanakkad is a small village that is sandwiched between the backwaters and the Arabian Sea.

Other Kerala villages where INCOIS will train the communities for tsunami preparedness include Valiyaparamba (Kasaragod district), Azhikode (Kannur district), Chemancheri (Kozhikode district), Veliancode (Malappuram district), Eriyad (Thrissur district), Purakkad (Alappuzha district), Alappad (Kollam district) and Karumkulam (Thiruvananthapuram district).

Last year, 26 villages from Odisha became the first ‘tsunami-ready’ villages among nations of the entire Indian Ocean region. More coastal states in India are undergoing training towards becoming ‘tsunami ready’, INCOIS officials said.