10/29/2014 National Institute Of Oceanography - Popular article : Tsunami of Tamil Nadu coast : How far and high

http://www.nio.org/index/option/com_nomenu/task/show/tid/85/sid/92/id/72 1/4
Sr. No. Station
Positions
Latitude (N) Longitude
(E)
1Arukattuthurai 1023'30.51" 7952'07.14"
2Velangani 1040'48.68" 7951'02.22"
3Nagore 1048'47.52" 7951'04.38"
4Karaikal 1054'50.03" 7951'08.04"
5Velangirayan 1132'15.04" 7945'44.07"
Tsunami of Tamil Nadu coast : How far and high
26 December Tsunami caught the people from Asia unprepared. It took away large number of lives and
properties in no time. This was the largest tsunami so far in the region that hardly experienced even minor
tsunamis earlier. India was also one of the many countries that had an impact of this on its islands of Andaman
and Nicobar and also the main lands especially the south east coastline. As has been indicated elsewhere this
institute had no priority on tsunami research. However, after the incident, coastline surveys and cruises were
undertaken by NIO scientists to find out impact of tsunami.
Earthquakes below the seawater are one of the root causes of the tsunamis. They create waves (tsunami) in the
seawater, which then travel to the coastlines. A tsunami carries considerable energy or has a momentum as it
arrives at a shoreline, which is hazardous to the properties and population. The data such as bathymetry, tide
level, inundation limits, run-up heights along the coastlines was collected as a first hand information besides
interviewing the eye witnesses and villagers staying on the coastline.
On the main land, the Tamil Nadu coast was affected most and therefore NIO team concentrated at large on this
coastline. The nature and impact of the phenomenon was recorded. Twenty three locations on Tamil Nadu and
one along the Andhra Pradesh coastline (Table 1) were surveyed to find out why and to what extent, the
tsunami brought in (landward) the seawater normally called inundation (Figure 1). The team also tried to
estimate the height of the waves at the locations of survey.
Table 1. Post-tsunami survey locationsPosition
Site search
Select Language
HOME About NIO Research Consultancy Human Resource News & Events Tenders Vacancies Outreach Contact Us
Visits Teachers / Student Science Exhibition Open Days Popular Oceanography Tides at Goa RSS
10/29/2014 National Institute Of Oceanography - Popular article : Tsunami of Tamil Nadu coast : How far and high
http://www.nio.org/index/option/com_nomenu/task/show/tid/85/sid/92/id/72 2/4
6Reddiar Pettai 1 1134'34.00" 7945'28.06"
6AReddiar Pettai 2 1134'34.00" 7945'28.06"
7Nanjalingampettai 1136'45.03" 7945'34.08"
8Thevanampattinam 1144'40.00" 79
47'18.09"
9Pudu Kuppam 1152'03.00" 7949'09.36"
10APeriyakalapet 1 121'27.18" 7951'56.08"
10Periyakalapet 2 1201'40.08" 7952'02.52"
10BPeriyakalapet 3 122'03.18" 7952'17.07"
11Nochi Kuppam 1205'08.46" 7953'55.01"
12Ekkiar Kuppam 1210'49.00" 7957'37.03"
13Kottai Kadu
Kuppam
1214'42.00" 7958'59.04"
14Alambarai Kuppam 1216'04.92" 8000'55.02"
15Sadarangapattinam
1
1231'22.09" 8009'56.28"
15ASadarangapattinam
2
1231'31.00" 8009'58.56"
16Mahabalipuram 1236'55.05" 8011'56.08"
17Kovalam 1247'19.09" 8015'16.02"
18Urur Alcott
Kuppam
1300'35.28" 8016'34.05"
19Krishnapatnam 1415'00" 8008'16.56"
The water entered to almost a kilometer at Nagore (Figure
2). The inundation limit was noticed to be dependent on the
tsunami height and the topography of the coastline. The
team noticed flat coastlines allowed entry of water much
deeper. However, at some places, the presence of dunes
restricted the entry and reduced impact.
10/29/2014 National Institute Of Oceanography - Popular article : Tsunami of Tamil Nadu coast : How far and high
http://www.nio.org/index/option/com_nomenu/task/show/tid/85/sid/92/id/72 3/4
On the coastline, the effect of tsunamis is also measured by run-up
heights' - a vertical height (from mean sea level) of the tsunami
wave that reaches onshore (Figure 2) . While the inundation was
noticed to be highest in south coast of Tamil Nadu, the run-up
heights were consistently higher on the northern region. This was
attributed to the bathymetry of the shallow waters near coastline.
The term bathymetry refers the charting the topography of the
seafloor and water depth. The concave bathymetry (Figure 3) helps
waves to refract and converge. Thus the waves coming from either
side collide with each other increasing their height the run-up
height. The team observed traces of these phenomena at the points
where the bathymetry was concave on the northern part of Tamil
Nadu. Of course, reverse was the case where the bathymetry was
convex. At Periyakalapet (Station 10 Figure 4), the run-up height
was highest. The other places farther north like Mahabalipuram and
Sadarangapattinam (stations 15, 16 Figure 4) also experienced a
good run-up height but not as high as that of Periyakalapet because
of the wider continental
shelf a relatively
shallow, submerged
portion of the continent.
The eyewitness reports suggest that there were three distinguishable
pulses of tsunami and their magnitude and period appear to have
been different at different sites. In many places the second wave was
biggest.
The study teaches us that the natural barriers such as sand dunes and coastal vegetations casurinas, palms,
coconut, sand dune grass, mangroves, etc. have played a major role in minimizing damage and therefore need
to be protected to save from such hazards. A fact that the unavoidable structures that come up closer to the
coastline need to be constructed using the modern engineering practices and understanding the behaviour of
nature to have minimal effects in such a situation.
10/29/2014 National Institute Of Oceanography - Popular article : Tsunami of Tamil Nadu coast : How far and high
http://www.nio.org/index/option/com_nomenu/task/show/tid/85/sid/92/id/72 4/4

To consult original article, refer :
Jayakumar, S.; Ilangovan, D.; Naik, K.A.; Gowthaman, R.; Tirodkar, G.; Naik, G.N.; Ganeshan, P.; ManiMurali,
R.; Michael, G.S.; Ramana, M.V.; Bhattacharya, G.C. Run-up and inundation limits along southeast coast of
India during the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Curr. Sci.: 88(11); 2005; 1741-1743.Anon.
Observations of post tsunami reconnaissance investigations along eastern coastal tract of India following the
devastating tsunami of 26
th
December 2004. National Institute of Oceanography Technical Report no. NIO/TR-
08/2005. 2005; 109pp.
Copyright
NIO, Dona Paula-Goa, 403 004, India. EPABX:+91(0)832-2450450; Fax:+91(0)832-2450602, -2450603; e-mail:ocean@nio.org
Sitemap