Reg. No. TN/PMG (CCR) /814/06-08 Licence No. WPP 506/06-08 Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under WE CARE FOR MADRAS THAT IS CHENNAI R.N. 53640/91 INSIDE Those waves of destruction Threatening water... MADRAS ... & threatened water Nagarathnammal & the Aradhana MUSINGS The Mylapore Festival Rs. 5 per copy Vol. XV No. 18 January 1-15, 2006 (Annual Subscription: Rs. 100/-) A promisePallikaranai Marsh waterfilled to after the rains. protect Nothing like a hot cup of filter coffee in this weather! Chins up, Chennai If ever a city had a right to the marsh Mood Melancholic, it was Chennai, battered and (Text and photographs by buffeted by low pressures B. VIMALA, and depressions for weeks Editor, Reach Velachery.) now. The weather people disclosed t took the November- way project has occupied 200 that at least six major systems I December floods to bring the hectare here. Land has also have made their unwelcome Pallikaranai Marsh to the atten- been allotted to FEFSI, the in- way to Chennai. tion of Government. In a ternational flower bazaar, the Did the cosmic comedy crew de- welcome statement, the Chief judicial academy and to many liberately gang up on us? Minister, after visiting flood- IT companies. Water certainly made its pres- ravaged Velachery and Madi- Care Earth, an NGO, made ence felt. pakkam, promised that the a study of the marsh in 2002 on If you are someone who consid- Pallikaranai Marsh would be behalf of the Tamil Nadu Pol- ers placing a toe gingerly in a protected to ensure that it re- lution Control Board. Accord- Burning of garbage near the Pallikaranai Marsh (see background in both pic- tures) threatens both marsh and settlements. particularly small wave com- mains a collection area for sur- ing to its report, there were 106 ing off the Bay of Bengal as adventure enough, imagine plus water. This commitment species of birds, 46 species of the horror of watching your by Government has been wel- fishes, 9 species of frogs, 21 spe- home turn into an island, or comed by all naturalists, NGOs, cies of lizards and snakes and gliding in boats down the very environmentalists and resi- 10 species of mammals inhabit- roads you were walking on two dents welfare associations in ing the swamp. This NGO also days ago. the area who have long been reported that the tall reeds that Frightened, displaced it was the campaigning against the degra- grow here act as filters to clean worst of times for many. dation of this wetland. surplus rainwater and un- You couldnt help gazing with The marsh was once 5000 treated sewage water. measured censure at the hectare. It stretched from The Pallikaranai Marsh is a thirst-quenching liquid nest- present-day Madhya Kailash, storehouse for 19 lakes in and ling innocently in your steel tumbler even as you took a near the CLRI, to Muttukadu around Chennai. A PWD offi- sip. beach. Today, only about 600 cial states, The marsh received Not done, you growled, Your hectare are left. Even this is 13,000 cusecs of rainwater from sort is guilty of serious ex- shrinking day by day. Accord- October 27th this year till early cess. ing to officials, 75 acres of the And it is cold enough for ad- marsh were allotted to the Cor- (Continued on Page 5 ) vertisements hawking room poration of Chennai as a gar- heaters to appear. bage dump. Today, 2000 Thats right room heaters. tonnes of unsegregated garbage Traffic improvements ahead? In Chennai. are being dumped daily by the Theres another one coming, Corporation, Onyx, municipali- Theyre dependent on road-users became the Chennaiites ties in the vicinity and the favourite form of greeting. nyone who happens to be seems to be in the offing, with communications and control to Yet, a news image lingers of a Alandur Municipality. This woman in a boat, arms dump has encroached into the Aon Chennais roads in advanced technology applica- enhance the efficiency of traf- around her children, with a marsh upto an extent of 250 peak hour traffic nowadays tions, like the Advanced Traf- fic movement and promote few, heart-breakingly few, be- acres! could write a scathing treatise fic Management Systems safety. The ATMS is one of longings scattered about her, The Chennai Metrowater on the depths to which Traffic (ATMS), that are to be intro- ITSs functional areas. Its basic smiling bravely into the Boards Perungudi Sewage Management has plummeted duced within the city in the functions are to collect, utilise camera. Treatment Plant is located over the years. Add to this in- next few months. and disseminate real time data Thats the spirit of the city. here. So too the National Insti- adequate road capacities, lax- Commonly known as Intel- on congestion on arterial streets Chennai bore with she knew tute of Ocean Technologys ity in traffic control, and driver ligent Transportation Systems and expressways. The applica- the sun will be back soon. and the Department of Wind- indiscipline, and the scenario (ITS), these technologies es- Ranjitha Ashok mill Energy. The MRTS rail- seems truly hopeless! But respite sentially utilise electronics, (Continued on Page 10 ) CMYK 2 MADRAS MUSINGS January 1-15, 2006 Those waves of destruction sunami is a Japanese word wave depends on water-depth. out to the deep ocean (distant Trepresented by two charac- If an earthquake on the sea bot- tsunami) and another that trav- ters tsu, meaning harbour, and tom occurs offshore at a depth els towards the nearby coast (lo- nami, meaning wave. They are of 1000 m, the speed of a tsu- cal tsunami). The height above called harbour waves because nami becomes about 360 km per the mean sea level (MSL) of they are most noticeable in hour. the two oppositely travelling harbours. They are common in The height of a tsunami tsunamis is about half that of Japan (25% of tsunamis origi- depends on the intensity of the the original tsunami. potential, stripping beaches of was struck at 10.00 hours. The nate from there), although they earthquake. Assuming that at Deep ocean tsunamis travel sand that may have taken years Survey of India (SOI) main- can occur anywhere where the the initial offshore point, at a faster than local tsunamis. In to accumulate and ripping up tains tidal gauges along the seabed is liable to rapid move- water depth of 1000 m, the the deep ocean, this wave trav- trees and other coastal vegeta- eastern coast. There are only ment, by earthquake rupture, initial height is 2 m, at the coast- els at speeds of 500-1,000 km per tion. Flooding hundreds of three of them located in the af- volcanic eruptions or collapse, line, at 1 m water depth, a hour. The slope of the wave, metres inland, the fast-moving fected region: Chennai, or by sediment slumping (un- tsunami wave will be as high as which extends hundreds of body of water can crush homes Nagapattinam and Tuticorin. derwater landslides). In the 11.2 m. kilometres, is so gentle that and other structures. Apparently, all three were de- past, tsunamis were referred to The most destructive tsuna- even ships travelling on top of a Once a tsunami hits land, a stroyed in the disaster. There- as tidal waves and as seismic mis are caused by subduction tsunami wave will not feel it. part of the energy is reflected fore, only rough estimates of the sea waves by the scientific zone earthquakes. A subduc- The momentum of the tsunami back into the sea. Besides, a tsu- run-up are available. The ports, community. The term tidal tion zone is where two of the is so great that it can travel great nami can generate what are however, maintain what are waves is a misnomer; although earths rigid tectonic plates con- distances with little loss of called edge waves that travel known as tide poles with mark- a tsunamis impact on a coast- verge towards one another energy. back and forth in relation to the ings on them. The Chennai Port line is dependent on the tidal (roughly a few centimetres per As a tsunami leaves the deep shore. These effects result in recorded a tidal wave height of level at the time a tsunami year), and one plate, usually waters of the open ocean and many arrivals of the tsunami at 4.1 m, while the Ennore Port re- strikes, it is unrelated to tides, a point on the coast. Because of corded 3.5 m. The normal which result from the imbalan- this it is not advisable to go to maximum tolerance that these ced, extraterrestrial, gravita- l Remembering the tragedy of a year ago the beach several hours after a ports are designed to handle is tional influences of the moon, A scientific view by SANTOSH KUMAR tsunami hits. about a metre of tide. These sun and planets. The term seis- are, of course, rough param- SARKAR and Md. AFTAB ALAM of the Univer- December 2004 tsunami mic sea waves is also mislead- sity of Calcutta eters, and the SOI is trying to ing. Seismic implies an earth- The December 26th tsunami determine the exact values. quake-related generation that hit India and Southeast The killer waves claimed at mechanism. Tsunamis are not composed of heavier oceanic travels into the shallower water Asia was the biggest, in terms of least 3,000 islanders in the generated by the gravitational material, dives beneath the near the coast, its character earthquake that triggered it, Andaman & Nicobar Islands. pull of the moon or the sun; other which is generally a changes.