20 years after killer tsunami, Tamil Nadu goes from ill-prepared to well-equipped

CHENNAI: When the Indian Ocean tsunami hit the Tamil Nadu coast in 2004, the State and its residents were caught off guard with no early warning or evacuation plan. Exactly 20 years after the deadly waves, the State government is well equipped with swift early warning systems and evacuation plans for future tsunamis, if any.

“After the 2004 tsunami, the government started working towards establishing early warning systems across all the coastal villages. Now, we have 437 such systems that cover villages up to 3 km radius. Residents can be addressed from the control room of the disaster management department,” said an official attached to the control room.

The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad has a warning centre that functions round the clock and monitors the Indian Ocean for earthquakes that may trigger tsunamis. The official explained that INCOIS has sensors in the ocean, which will alert the centre within 10 minutes after a high magnitude earthquake occurs in the ocean. The State government would be warned immediately for commencing safety measures including evacuation.

“Now, the State government has a capacity to alert coastal villages and complete the evacuation process within an hour after the INCOIS alert. In 2004, tsunami waves had taken almost 2 hours to reach Tamil Nadu coasts,” he explained.

For better precautionary measures, INCOIS also prepared impact maps for the coastal villages marking the distance that waves could reach during a tsunami. But the maps are for earthquakes of 9.1 magnitude that triggered the 2004 tsunami. During the 2004 disaster, waves reached up to 700 metres in one part of a village, and 1.5 km in another part of the same village.

“The map has marked such distances for all the villages. The State government is prepared for handling severe tsunamis than the one we faced in 2004, which had reached up to 3 km from the coasts. We can evacuate people from the coasts and secure them on higher grounds 10 km away,” the official elaborated.

Moreover, during a mock exercise conducted on November 5 in Velankanni in Nagapattinam, and Vanagiri in Mayiladuthurai, the State government managed to evacuate the villages within one hour. The mock exercises were a part of the ‘tsunami ready recognition programme’.

When asked about the bio-shields against tsunami hazards, the disaster management department explained that improvements to mangrove ecosystems and coastal ecosystems are being carried out in coordination with the State Forest Department.

“In 2004, the impact of the waves was found to be lesser near mangrove forests. If we’re prepared for a tsunami, it means we’re well prepared for all other coastal disasters like cyclones and floods,” the official added.

Moreover, the department has launched TN-Alert smartphone apps to warn the public about natural disasters like cyclones, floods and tsunamis.