We were on a beach. Somewhere close to Puducherry. The sight was surreal: half-smashed houses with wide open fronts, people still living in them. The devastation was caused not by a sea storm or a cyclone, but by the eroded beach. The sea had crept up to the village; there …
On February 26, as night fell on the tranquil Gahirmatha beach in Odisha, thousands of Olive Ridley turtles crawled in. Using their rear flippers, they dug pits in the soft beach sand and started laying eggs, more than 100 at a time. Then they skilfully covered the nests with sand …
IN DHINKIA village in Odisha’s Jagatsinghpur district, residents gathered around fragile bamboo gates, armed with sticks, brooms and lathis. The gates and improvised weapons were meant to keep government officials out. The residents expected a visit from them any day after the Union environment ministry gave environmental clearance to South …
ON NOVEMBER 18, there was a dust-up between farmers and fishers at Murthikuppam in Puducherry’s Bahour Commune over who would get to talk to the environment ministry’s representative visiting the area. The representative from the ministry’s Bengaluru regional office, U Sridharan, was there to seek views on the partially constructed …
Sadanand Tandel’s house is the dream of every tourist. A terrific sea view, waving coconut fronds and in a few dozen steps one can walk into the sea waves. Through Tandel’s eyes, however, the view is somber. Till 1991, 30 of his coconut trees stood where the sea is now. …
An assessment of various threats to the olive ridley turtles at Rushikulya rookery of Orissa in India was investigated during 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. Data on adult mortality, predation of eggs and juveniles, beach erosion and Casuarina plantation along the beach were collected. Turtle mortality was low at Rushikulya compared …
Some of the Arabian Gulf states are busy developing several large, reclaimed islands and offshore townships. These structures are undoubtedly futuristic and the ideas are quite novel. However, there are serious issues of long-term sustainability of these townships. This article reviews and discusses natural hazards that have struck this region …
Over 600 acres of land in the Kakinada suburbs have disappeared in the last four decades because of sea erosion. Residents of villages such as Uppada, Komaragiri, Subbam Peta and surrounding areas in the Kothapally mandal are deeply worried at the continuing erosion of the coastline. Successive governments have taken …
Here is an existential dilemma. They belonged to Bengal till they woke up one morning to find themselves in Jharkhand. Now both the states won't have them. Bengal won't have them because what was their village has submerged under the sea and they have scampered on to chars or new …
