THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Helpless were the administration and the local population, when the sea struck the coastal belt of the district for the third consecutive day on Sunday. The seemingly clueless authorities were ill-prepared to counter the onslaught caused by the massive waves, which washed away a fair amount of land from the shores of Poonthura and Panathura. The stretch of coastal area in the district from Pozhiyoor to Varkala has been at the receiving end of the deadly waves, which are usually whipped up by heavy winds during the South West and North East Monsoons. According to Muhammed Iqbal, the councillor from Beemapally East, the sea has been intruding deep into the coast, creating insecurity among the people and widespread damage to infrastructure. ‘‘During the monsoons, the sea usually pushes almost 25 m inland. The seawall has been lined up, but even that thin line of defence is being wiped away by the intruding waves,” he said. According to Iqbal, the only option to put up a counter-defence is by constructing groynes, which can tackle the loss of the land portion. The two-and-a-half kilometre stretch of coast from Beemapally to Poonthura has been vastly affected by the waves. Poonthura coast has been receiving the brunt of the fury of the waves for long. But after the Irrigation Department constructed eight groynes along the coast, the loss of the beach has minimised by a fair margin. According to a top official with the Irrigation Department, the construction of the seawall is not an alternative to groynes. Technical urgradation has also influenced the construction of seawalls and groynes. ”Now, counter measures like construction of groynes are adopted after conducting site study. Specific designs are tailor-made for each location. In the case of Poonthura and Panathura, the sea is deep. So, erosion pattern too varies from other regions. A detailed report on the intensity of the waves and the direction of the current is recorded by the Meteorological Department and National Oceanographic Centre. Based on the report, the plan for the construction of groynes is made,” he said. In Kerala, the construction is being overseen by Prof Sunder of Chennai IIT. Short groynes, often measuring up to 60 m, are preferred over the long groynes, which may extend to hundred metres in length. In Poonthura, eight groynes, four of them 60 m long, two 40 m long and two 20 m long, were built. This strategy has paid off well, as the extent of sea intrusion has been less compared to the scenario before 2008. According to a report with the Irrigation Department, which spearheads the seawall construction, a 382-km long coast has been identified as erosion-prone area in the state. The total length of the coastline is 560 km. In Thiruvananthapuram district, which has a coastline of over 70 km, only less than 13 km remains unprotected. But the appalling fact is that some of the locations, including Veli, Beemapally, Shangumugam and Perumathura, which are prone to sea advancement, fall in the list of unprotected zones.
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