TSUNAMI HAZARD ASSESEMENT USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES ALONG THE COAST BETWEEN TANGAPATNAM AND OVARI, TAMILNADU

Prevention of natural disasters is not though feasible, the destruction it conveys could be minimized at least to some extent by the postulation of reliable hazard management system and consistent implementation of it. With that motive, the beaches along the coast between Tangapatnam and Ovari, Tamil nadu have been classified into various zones of liability based upon their response to the tsunami surge of 26 December 2004. Thereby, the beaches which are brutally affected has been identified. Based on the seawater inundation with relative to their coastal geomorphic features, we have classified the tsunami impact along the coast and the probability of the behaviour of the beaches in case of similar havoc in future. The study results that the maximum seawater inundation recorded in the study area is 750 m as in the case of Colachel and the minimum is 100 m as in the case of Kadiapatanam, Mandakadu and Vaniakudy. As per the hazard map, beaches like Chinnamuttom, Kanyakumari, Manakudy, Pallam and Colachel are under high risk in case of similar disaster in future and the beaches like Ovari, Perumanal, Navaladi, Rajakkamangalam, Kadiapatanam, Mandakadu, Vaniakudy, Inayam and Taingapatnam are under least viability.