Coastal hazard line mapping underway, assures MoEF

In the backdrop of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) today issued a statement to reassure the nation that the process to map, delineate and demarcate a hazard line in the country’s coastal belt was well underway.

“This initiative of the MoEF forms a critical part of its responsibilities towards the planned management of the country’s coastal zone,” it said. MoEF has signed an agreement with the Survey of India for doing so.

The project is expected to cost Rs 125 crore and is a part of the World Bank-assisted Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project. The agreement was signed last May.

The hazard line is a composite of the shoreline changes (including sea level rise) due to climate change, tides and waves. The work is estimated to take five years. This will include the collection and presentation of data, identifying flood lines over the past 40 years (which includes sea-rise impacts), and a prediction of erosions to take place over the next 100 years.

The Survey is using a technology called Stereo Digital Aerial Photography.