Placeholder canvas

Fragility Of Bengal Coast To Be Tested By Cyclone Yaas

Date:

The hungry tides of the Bay of Bengal crossed the guard wall and inundated the road by the sea at various points of Purba Medinipur last night, even when Cyclone Yaas was about 450 kilometres away. At Shankarpur near Digha, the sea water has started entering the coastal villages.

It is nothing unusual for the fragile coast of Bengal, particularly of the coasts of Sundarbans and Purba Medinipur (where quite a few tourist spots including Digha is situated). Nowadays, people use to visit Digha and other spots on nights of unusually high tides that occur quite a few times a year. The tourists enjoy the scene of huge waves crossing the wall. They do not know what they witness is too ominous a sign for coastal Bengal

Thirty years ago, Digha was the only coastal tourist spot in Bengal. Back then the town did not need any protection of boulders or guard-wall. It had a natural coast like any other coastal towns. But even then the scientists and engineers knew in a few decades from then large part of the town would go underwater. So they laid huge boulders and made the guard-wall that so far have protected the town.

Such guard walls are built over quite a length of the coast. But will it protect the region tomorrow, when Yaas is supposed to hit the coast of Bengal?  Last year, when Amphan hit the Bengal coast, the sea breached the wall at various points. But Yaas is much more wide, according to the met department, though its speed is lesser. But it is coming on a day of a full moon and bhara kotal (unusual high tide). So the tides may gain a height of up to 15 feet.

“Now it seems if we do not raise the height of the guard walls by another five feet all along the coast,” says a government engineer, “in another 30 years the sea will claim a large part of Bengal coast, including all the coastal towns.”

The situation is even worse in coastal Sunderbans of South 24 Parganas, for guard-walls cannot be built by the mangrove forest. Not only the sea will invade and destroy a large part of the jungle in next two days, along with it the saline water will go deep inside the land through the rivers. The long term effect of this salinity will be dangerous.

The state government has taken all steps to fight the immediate effects of Cyclone Yaas. Only from the town of Bakkhali, about 14,000 people have been evacuated. The administration has built four thousand relief centres in southern Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee apprehends the effect of Yaas will be more disastrous than Amphan. So, it is expected that the state will counter the immediate effects quite efficiently.

But what about the long term effects? It does not look like the politicians or administrators are serious about it.

(The author Diptendra Raychaudhuri is a senior journalist based in Kolkata. He has a wide range of experience in covering West Bengal politics and has authored).   

Click here for Latest News updates and viral videos on our AI-powered smart news

For viral videos and Latest trends subscribe to NewsMobile YouTube Channel and Follow us on Instagram

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Share post:

Subscribe

Popular

More like this
Related

NewsMobile Morning Brief

Actor Govinda Joins Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena Ahead Of...

Gangster-Turned-Politician Mukhtar Ansari Dies Of Cardiac Arrest

Banda: Gangster turned politician Mukhtar Ansari passed away at...

IPL 2024: Rajasthan Royals Defeat Delhi Capitals By 12 Runs

Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals clinched a 12-run win over Delhi...