Two villages in eastern India gobbled up by sea
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The swift incursion of the sea has gobbled up the village of Satabhaya in Orissa’s coastal Kendrapara district.
The village is at present surrounded by seawater, and only eight families are left here.
“They too are negotiating a safer place to migrate to,” says Sashmita Das, sarpanch of the village panchayat. In the last four months, more than 100 families have been rendered homeless as the sea marches on, relentlessly submerging homes and agricultural lands. Families from Satabhaya and Kanhupur villages have migrated to Okilpara village, eight kilometres from the coast. “Since January this year, the sea has been unusually furious. The incursion has been faster than in 2007,” says Das. The village panchayat estimates that since January, 93 families have left Kanhupur village. In Satabhaya, around 25 families moved out when the sea reached their doorsteps. Left with no options, not even a government rehabilitation package, people have been settling in nearby villages like Okilpara. And, as earlier reported, this has triggered conflicts. According to local estimates, the sea has advanced at least 30 feet into Kanhupur village this year alone. Two bore wells that were used by local residents to gauge sea levels are already submerged. The panchayat office in Satabhaya (where I stayed in 2006 whilst researching the article) is just a few metres from the sea now. During high tide in Satabhaya, seawater enters the 800-year-old Panchubarahi temple that was located two kilometres from the sea 10 years ago. In 2006, the sea was around 200 metres away; in January and April this year tidal waves entered the temple. On April 2, the turbulent sea grabbed substantial parts of both Satabhaya and Kanhupur villages. During September last year, the villages lost 25 houses during a low-pressure phase. “The sea advanced at least 10 feet into Kanhupur village on September 21. It wiped out the government-run primary school. One of the bore wells catering to the drinking water needs of both villages was consumed by the sea,” says Asish Senapati, a local reporter working with an English daily. Kendrapara collector Kashinath Sahu concedes that rehabilitation has not been possible despite government assurances. “The resettlement colony for displaced people is yet to come up. Major areas in and around Satabhaya come under classified forest land, and this has led to delays in resettlement,” he says. Orissa is slowly waking up to the real threat of sea erosion. And the link between it and climate change. In the last one year there has been massive sea erosion in Puri, Gopalpur and other areas of Kendrapara district. The marine drive in Puri was badly damaged last year due to sea erosion. An Orissa assembly committee on natural calamities has sent a draft memorandum to the Union government asking for Rs 7,000 crore to help save the coastal villages from sea erosion. The committee has also asked the department of oceanography to study the causes of rising sea levels and suggest ways to tackle the problem. Source: Infochange |
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"Quick Actions for Climate Change and Rising Sea Levels"Author:
Caroline Bied
Time: 01.05.2008 20:16
Comment: The whole world is responsible for climate change and its devastating consequences. Even though the situation is critical, each individual can make a change, and governments should encourage these practices.
In a 2006 report called Livestock's Long Shadow, the UN' s Food and Agriculture Organization reported that almost 18% of the earth’s greenhouse gas emissions comes from the international meat industry. The main reason? Nitrous Oxide is released from a cow’s poop while methane is released with its flatulence. Methane has 23 times the effect on the environment that carbon has, while nitrous oxide is 296 times greater. As of 2001 the cattle, sheep and goat population was 3.3 billion and the numbers were rising fast. According to researchers at the University of Chicago, by simply becoming a vegetarian or vegan, you could dramatically reduce your carbon footprint by almost one and a half tonnes. According to Canwest News Service “a meat-based diet requires seven times more land than a plant-based diet. Livestock production is responsible for more climate change gasses than all the motor vehicles in the world.” We should all act fast and convince our governments to do so. Even if we, personnally do not pay physically for the consequences yet, other people do in other parts of the world (drought, floods, land slides, food and water shortage, and the list continues). Please, convey this message to the ones who might not know, so we can live in a decent world. |
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