IIT Madras conducts Indo-German workshop on Coastal Hazards, Coastal Water Management, Vulnerability and Sustainability
Chennai, 25th October 2017: Indian Institute of Technology Madras conducted a two-day Indo-German workshop on ‘Coastal Hazards and Coastal Water Management, Vulnerability and Sustainability’ on 24th and 25th October 2017. The objective was to discuss, exchange knowledge, and investigate coastal hazards including toxic floods and their effects on urban resilience.
The workshop was inaugurated by Prof Nagarajan, Dean (International and Alumni Relations), IIT Madras, and Indo-German Centre coordinators from both countries, Prof. B.S. Murty and Prof Rafig Azzam.
Around 1.2 billion people in the world are currently living within 100 km of coastal zones of the Earth, and especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Population growth within the coastal zone is expected to be more rapid than in other areas in the near future. By the Year 2030, more than 50 percent of the world’s population were likely to reside in coastal areas.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2014 reported that Climate Change induced a higher frequency of extreme Weather and Climate Events since the 1950s, and that this will “reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of coastal cities” to “current climate variability”.
Further, it added, climate change also affects Monsoonal patterns, which seem to cause an intensification of Seasonal Rainfall that fortifies inundation/flooding in India regularly during the last years. Furthermore, the Indian coast is prone to tsunamis, as the Makran Subduction Zone may cause tsunami genic earthquakes affecting the Indian west coast.
In 2004, the East Coast was affected by the Sumatra Tsunami inducing a 7 m-wave south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Besides the primary destructive effects, the widespread contamination of coastal areas due to the pulsed transport of immense pollutant loads during the flooding may seriously affect the coastal ecosystems. This clearly counters increasing population and urbanization in particular along coastlines.
The workshop was divided into four major sessions:
1. Urban and Coastal Water Engineering
2. Coastal Hazards and Climate Change
3. Bio- And Eco-Hazards
4. Societal Impact and Urban Resilience
Prof. S.A. Sannasiraj, Head, Department of Ocean Engineering, IIT Madras and Prof. Klaus Reicherter from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, coordinated the workshop with lectures from both the institutes in addition to invited lectures from University of Bonn and Stratigraphy, Germany; Complutense Universidad, Madrid, Spain; and, ICMAM, University of Kerala, CUSAT, NIO, ISR from India.
The workshop focussed on the knowledge on geoscientific and chemical issues, engineering and water management, as well as ecotoxicological aspects combined with cultural belongings on land use.
Speaking during the workshop Prof. S.A. Sannasiraj said, “Coping with climate change, our coastal adaptation strategies should be planned more towards natural means with so-called artificial structures”.
Further, Prof Klaus Richerter spoke about the need for integrated approach on dealing coastal hazards both geo-physical and biological issues.
