Three Metros Will Sink By 2020
Deccan Chronicle
08 December, 2003Here is a disaster prediction. Coastal cities such as
Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai could go under sea by 2020 at the present
levels of global warming and the concomitant rise in sea level, says a
Goa-based scientist Dr Rajiv Nigam.
"Studies on sea level changes have gained momentum with global warming
that the earth is experiencing now. If the warming continues, there will
be about half to one metre increase in sea level by 2020 and cities like
Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai will be completely submerged,'' said Dr
Nigam, a scientist with the Geological Oceanography Division, Goa,
addressing the two-day UGC-sponsored workshop on current trends in
research on 'Quaternary sea-level changes' at National College in
Tiruchy on Friday.
Predicting that a one-metre rise in sea level along the western coast of
Goa could result in damage of properties worth Rs 5,000 billion, Dr
Nigam said: "If this is the quantum of damage in a small State like Goa
that has only two districts, imagine the extent of property loss in
metros like Mumbai."
The geologist said global warming would also affect the monsoon cycle
and increase the amplitude and frequency of cyclones.
Sea level changes could be effectively monitored by studying the
shoreline movement indicator, analysing the depth of the sea and
studying micro-fossils, he said.
Dr Nigam lamented that there were "inadequacies and gaps" in the
quaternary research in India even though the country had a long
coastline of about 7000 km.
Delivering his inaugural address, Dr G Victor Rajamanickam, Professor
and Head of the Department of Disaster Management, School of Civil
Engineering, SASTRA, Thanjavur said that since 60 per cent of world
population was concentrated in coastal regions, special disciplines like
coastal geology assumed importance in pre-warning and forecasting
disasters.
The workshop aimed at "reducing the gap and encouraging researchers to
collect evidences, understand the causes, measuring and dating
quaternary sea levels.''