IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF GAJA CYCLONE IN COASTAL FISHERMAN HAMLETS IN TAMILNADU,

G.Sathiyan, Centre for study of social exclusion and inclusive policy, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli-24. C.Lakshumanan, Centre for Disaster Management and Coastal Research, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli-23.

Abstract The cyclones are natural disaster in coastal areas and severely affect the livelihood. This study mainly focuses the assessment of impacts of GAJA cyclone. The landfall of cyclone was on November 16 2018 between Cuddalore and Pamban. The damages assessment was carried out in the field after 5 days from the landfall. The damages of settlements, plantations, causalities, boats and electric poles are noticed during the field survey. Higher number of causalities was reported in district. The maximum inundation and run up was measured in Nagapattinam and the damaged electric poles were also seen along the road sides. Coconut and Banana plantation damages are higher in whereas, settlement damages are seen in and Thiruvarur districts. Nagapattinam was the worst affected district among the other coastal deltaic districts. This kind of field observation study for the damage assessment and measurement of inundation and run up will be useful for researchers, planners and local government for disaster mitigation. Key words Cyclone, GAJA, Impact assessment, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam 1 Introduction Cyclones are the most common natural disaster, particularly in peninsular India. Most of the tropical cyclones originating in the region often turn into super cyclone before hitting the continental land mass (Pradipta et al. 2017 ). The cyclonic storm originating in the Bay of Bengal comparatively more dangerous than those hitting from the because it is relatively cooler than the Bay of Bengal. Tropical cyclones cause overall defoliation of canopy trees, plantations, built-up and agricultural lands (Sundarapandian et al. 2014 ). The 1737 Calcutta cyclone, 1970 Bhola cyclone and 1991 Bangladesh cyclone (Punithavathi et al. 2012 ) are more dangerous and widespread devasted cyclone in the eastern coast of India. The cyclone GAJA is one of the eastern coast cyclones which formed over the Gulf of Thailand in the equatorial Indian Ocean on 5th November, 2018 and this storm lingered and crossed the . Finally, on November 11, it intensified from a deep depression into a cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal (IMD 2018 ) and named as GAJA, a LFS- LITERARY FINDINGS JUNE - 2019 ISSN : 2278 - 2311 // 43 // Sanskrit word which means elephant. After continuing its track along westward it strengthened into a Severe Cyclonic Storm (SCS) and the landfall happened between Cuddalore and Pamban, on November 16 (12 IST to 1 IST) with the wind speed of 120 km/h. The present paper is to assess the impact of GAJA cyclone in the coastal fisherman hamlets and to gather information on type of damages, record the causalities, damages caused to fisherman community. 2 Study Areas Tamilnadu is consists of 13 coastal districts among these 6 coastal districts namely Nagapattinam, Cuddalore, Thiruvarur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai and Ramanathapuram are rigorously affected by GAJA cyclone. The important thing to consider was those are the coastal deltaic districts lies between Latitudes 09 o00' to 12 o00' and longitudes 78 o00' to 80 o00' and covers an area of 20,926.69 sq.km (Fig 1). The study area produces higher amount of fishing and agricultural products compared to the other districts. The aquaculture and saltpan industries are predominant in the study area. The intensity of damages were not uniform throughout the study area, severe damages were noticed along the cyclone travelled path over those districts.

Fig.1 Location map of the study area

LFS- LITERARY FINDINGS JUNE - 2019 ISSN : 2278 - 2311 // 44 // Methodology of field survey Field survey was conducted from 20 to 24 November 2018, i.e., after 5 days from the date of the severe cyclonic storm. The survey was carried out from Pichavaram in Cuddalore district to Pamban in . In the survey; settlements, plantations, electric poles, boats, vehicles and agricultural land damages are measured. The field survey was carried out based on the parameters like interval, accessibility and highly affected areas. Both the inundation and run up were also measured using water marks in walls, trail of twigs and leaves, alien sediment coating, death of plants sensitive to saline waters and ripple marks. The measurements of run up in the areas with no prominent water marks are obtained from eyewitness of native people. Results of field survey The field survey comprises of six coastal districts which are severely affected by GAJA cyclone. The sum of 80 locations was demarcated throughout the survey. These survey locations are selected based on the intensity of damages that existed in the area. The results from the survey shows that almost all the fishing hamlets, plantations, settlements, electric poles, fishing boats and vehicles were severely damaged. In few areas prominent seawater inundation and run up was observed. Conclusion This field survey emphasis over the impact of Gaja cyclone in the coastal deltaic districts of Tamilnadu. The intensity of the cyclone the damages caused to life and properties. Fisherman settlement damages and reported causalities (16) are higher in than other deltaic coastal districts and also a maximum inundation (1.8 Km) and run up (1.8 m above MSL) was measured in Kodikkarai. More number of electric pole (40000) damages was also seen along the road sides. More than 400 boats were damaged by the inundation in the coastal villages of the district. With these inferences, Nagapattinam was the worst affected district. However, eyewitness combined with field survey indicates that and Orathanadu of Thanjavur district, accounts heavy toll on Coconut (16000 hectares) and Banana (1000 hectares) plantations damage. Areas like Jambaan odai and Puthupalli of Thiruvarur districts accounts boat damages of about 80 number. However, similar to other districts, areas namely J.S.Colony, and Keelakadu in Thiruvarur district were also subjected to plantation (Coconut, Banana, and Teak) damages. Likewise settlement (Kutcha, Metal roof, Asbestos and huts) damages were found in Keelathoppu, Karaiyankadu and Azad Nagar villages. In , places namely Thirumayam, Kammamchettichathiram, Vadugapatti, Akkuchipatti, Sivanthanpatti and Sambattividuthi accounts heavy toll on settlement damages. The maximum of 9 causalities were reported within the district. The authors thank the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR),Chennai, Ministry of Earth Science (MoES) for the funding and support.

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