The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Call to review Sethu project

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 27, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Call to review Sethu project

Special Correspondent

Indian Ocean system has undergone changes after the tsunami: expert

CHENNAI: The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project needs to be reviewed keeping in view the geological and geo-morphological changes that the Indian Ocean system has undergone after the tsunami, speakers at a workshop organised by The Hindu Media Resource Centre and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation here on Monday said.

"After the tsunami, while the level of the north Andaman islands has risen, the southern islands, Nicobar and Great Nicobar, have sunken. The entire island has moved at least four km closer to the mainland, necessitating a review of the SSCP, which is coming up in the Indian Ocean region," P.C. Kesavan, Department of Atomic Energy Homi Bhabha Chair, MSSRF, said at the workshop on "Managing Tsunami: Lessons of 26 December 2004.''

The tsunami had brought in the possibility of creating a new profile for the Andamans, especially in organic farming, formation of bio-villages, cultivation of mangroves and aquaculture of mud crabs and prawns.

Some of the components of post-disaster management were trauma counselling, relief measures, housing, livelihoods, ecological security, agronomic rehabilitation, knowledge connectivity and disaster preparedness, M.S. Swaminathan, chairman, MSSRF, said.

Poor nations and the poor in nations were worst affected by disasters. One of the ways of ensuring livelihood was through establishing bio-villages, which would include natural resources conservation/enhancement and sustainable livelihood.

A post-disaster reconstruction strategy should factor in geophysical and geo-morphological studies, vulnerability mapping, computer simulation models, harnessing of traditional wisdom and establishing community food and water banks.

A project had been finalised with support from the Canadian International Development Agency for launching a collaborative Indo-Sri Lankan programme for bio-shield development and establishing village knowledge centres.

The programme would be partnered by the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement in Sri Lanka and the MSSRF, he said.

Representatives of village knowledge centres, supported by the MSSRF in Tamil Nadu and the Andaman and Nicobar islands, shared their experience in harnessing information and communication technology (ICT) for community benefit.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu