Pallikaranai, surrounding areas vulnerable to devastating floods, says a study
P. Oppili
CHENNAI: Pallikaranai and its surrounding areas will suffer from devastating floods in the future if there is no sustainable planning of natural water run-off, shows a study.
The study was jointly taken up by Care Earth, a non-governmental organisation, Loyola College and the Department of Physical Geography, University of Freiburg, Germany. It said the analysis of meteorological data combined with the extended main water body clearly showed that the flood risk in and around the marshland was due to man-made changes in the area. The marshland was an important retention area for strong precipitation during the monsoon. The anthropogenic changes in and around the marshland cut off the water run off and aggravated the frequency and intensity of floods, it said.
The socio-economic analysis of risk perceptions and management strategies underlined the inter-related reasons for floods, which were due to economic globalisation, labour migration and rapid urbanisation. The pressure on cities and their planning authorities grew with its inhabitants.
The demand for developing areas led to the ecological destruction of the marshland, it said. Illegal as well as legal garbage dumping was an increasing hazard. The belief that filling up the upper part of the marshland would create new land for settlements or industries was not correct.
As a result of the process of decomposition, the dump site would produce gases such as methane for at least the next 20 years, the study said.
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