Environmental management and emergency preparedness plan for Tsunami disaster along Indian coast

Abstract

The 26 December 2004 Tsunami generated by the submarine earthquake in Andaman Sea with the magnitude of 9.2 Richter scale triggered the worst destruction, widespread inundation and extensive damage in terms of life and property along the Tamil Nadu coast and Andaman Nicobar Group of Islands. The shoreline features like dunes, vegetation and steepness of beaches played vital role in attenuating the impact of Tsunami from destruction. While the low-level Marina beach experienced minimum inundation, the coast between Adyar and Cooum was inundated heavily. As the present generation of India was not aware of Tsunami, the emergency plan and preparedness were zero and so the loss of human life was huge. In this article, the authors describe the Tsunami occurred in India on 26 December 2004 and its impacts on morphology. The appropriate Emergency Preparedness plan and the Disaster Management Plan in case of reoccurrence of such natural disaster are discussed.