The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Sethu project site safe: expert

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 03, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Sethu project site safe: expert

By S. Dorairaj

CHENNAI, JAN. 2. Having claimed thousands of lives and caused damage to the tune of several crores, the December 26 tsunami strike has also triggered yet another bout of controversy over the feasibility of the Sethusamudram ship canal project and the "risk factors" involved in its implementation.

But N. Ramanujam, Head, Geology Department of V.O.Chidambaram College, Tuticorin, allays apprehensions over the project.

Dr. Ramanujam, who is also principal investigator of the project on seismology, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, says the Sethusamudram canal is in a safe location between Sri Lanka and India. The seismic waves had little impact in the area, which would pass through the Gulf of Mannar (GoM) and the Palk Strait in the Bay of Bengal, he told The Hindu here today.

Among the coastal districts, Tuticorin, Ramanathapuram and Pudukottai, which are very close to the project, are well protected by the island systems in the Gulf of Mannar, which has 20 coral islands, though Kanyakumari district has been battered by the tsunami strike. Even after travelling several hundreds of km, the refracted waves hit Colachal and devastated the adjacent areas. Nagapattinam, another coastal district, bore the brunt of the attack because of its geographical location and shallow shoreline. For long, Nagapattinam remained vulnerable to natural calamities, he says.

There is geological evidence to prove the safety of the Gulf of Mannar region. A sub-marine earthquake beneath the Andaman Islands in December 1881 triggered tsunami with a maximum crest height of 0.8 metres. Though the teleseismic recording seismometer was not available then, eight gauges in and around the Bay of Bengal region recorded the tectonic activity. Tide gauge specifications indicated that Nagapattinam recorded a crest height of 0.69 metres, while Pamban recorded waves with a height of only 0.56 metres, he recalls.

On claims that digging a 300-metre-wide and 12.5-metre-deep trench as part of the project might cause geological imbalance in the region, Dr. Ramanujam says the dredging has to be done mainly in some shallow parts on the northern side of the Palk Strait, that too, only up to 5 metres as the sea has a depth of more than 8 metres. If the dredged material is dumped in the area between Mundamchatram and Dhanushkodi, there will be no threat to the ecology.

The project will not pose any threat to the environment or geology. The impact of the nature's fury has shown that the site lies in a safe location. But the need of the hour is installing a tsunami warning system in the country.

Dr. Ramanujam says priority should be given to disaster management, an evolving subject. If it is introduced in engineering courses, it will pave the way for creating the expertise to tackle natural calamities.

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