Iasscore:: Disaster Management in Coastal Regions

Disaster Management in Coastal Regions

• Natural disasters are events caused by the forces of nature that adversely effect on human settlements, and environment. 

• The coastal zone is the transitional area between land and sea. It is defined, as a strip of land and sea of varying width depending on the nature of the environment and management needs.

Hazard Scenario 

• A variety of natural hazards regularly threaten the nation's coastal inhabitants. 

• Severe Meteorological events such as Tropical Cyclones are particularly' harsh on coastal areas, often resulting in damages from highwinds,stormsurge,flooding,and shoreline erosion: Tsunamis, 

• Coastal Locations are also subjected to the impacts of long term hazards such as chronic coastal "erosion, potential sea-level rise, and. global climate change. 

Impact 

• Coastal hazard events can significantly affect or even alter the natural environment, but their impacts are generally not considered "disastrous" unless they involve damages to human populations and infrastructure. 

• Impacts of the hazard on the natural environment become more devastating because human interfernce has altered the ability of natural systems to recover from such events.

Causes

• Among the main reasons for the continuing increase in the loss levels caused by natural —disasters is the continuing growth of the population by unchecked migration-of people to coastal areas that are generally more exposed to-natural disasters.

• The development of industry in regions that are subject to natural hazards, without appropriate protective measures is another reason for the growing increase in the loss levels caused by natural disasters.

• Another factor that exacerbates the effects of natural hazards is environmental degradation, which is taking place in many countries of the region.

Requirements in Coastal Disaster Management 

• Disaster requirements would differ in case of each specific hazard the coastal areas are -subject to, which have been referred briefly earlier.

Coastal Pollution

• To control coastal pollution,which has increased with increasingindustrialisationoftheseareas,compliance with EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) would have to be strictly enforced.

A. Algal blooms: Presently, there is no database for systematic study of algae blooms, their causes, ways to curb them, etc. 

B. Submarine Mudslides: With exploration for oil gaining momentum, offshore structural engineering is gaining importance. The potential threat to such strictures from submarine mudslides necessitates engineering design solutions to mitigate the impact.

• Since poor quality of construction has been identified as one of the causes of higher fatalities due to natural hazards in India.