CLASSIFICATION OF TSUNAMI HAZARD ALONG THE SOUTHERN COAST OF INDIA: AN INITIATIVE TO SAFEGUARD THE COASTAL ENVIRONMENT FROM SIMILAR DEBACLE

Prevention of natural disasters is not feasible but the destruction it conveys could be minimized at least to some extent by the postulation of reliable hazard management system and consistent implementation of it. With that motive, the beaches along the study area have been classified into various zones of liability based upon their response to the tsunami surge of 26 December 2004. Thereby, the beaches which are brutally affected has been identified and the beaches which are least. Based on the seawater inundation with relative to their coastal geomorphic features, we have classified the tsunami impact along the coast and the probability of the behaviour of the beaches in case of similar havoc in future. The maximum seawater inundation recorded in the study area is 750 m as in the case of Colachel and the minimum is 100 m as in the case of Kadiapatanam, Mandakadu and Vaniakudy.Beaches like Chinnamuttom, Kanyakumari, Manakudy, Pallam and Colachel are under high risk in case of similar disaster in future and the beaches like Ovari, Perumanal, Navaladi, Rajakkamangalam, Kadiapatanam, Mandakadu, Vaniakudy, Inayam and Taingapatnam are under least viability.