KARACHI – A tsunami in the Arabian Sea can cause widespread destruction in Pakistan and in order to prevent the loss of property and around 400,000 human lives a buffer zone along the coast is needed, said International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Asia Regional Director Aban Marker Kabraji on Tuesday.
“The one-mile buffer zone along the coastal belt especially in major cities like Karachi should be without human settlements or infrastructure, as the first victims of tsunami are the people and buildings in the coastal areas,” she said. Kabraji was addressing a press briefing in the wake of recent tsunami in Japan at the IUCN’s country office along with other IUCN officials to highlight the importance of mangrove forests.
She said in the proposed buffer zone forests might be grown for the protection of cities from tsunami-related destruction. “We know that creating a buffer zone in Karachi is very difficult, as majority of population in coastal areas comprises fishermen, who will not agree to move far away from the coast,” said Kabraji, adding that such buffer zones, however, might be considered as the first priority in new cities being planned like Zulfikarabad.
As part of protective measures, the buffer zone may be converted into thick forests. “Pakistan needs to grow mangrove forests along the coast; riverine forests along the rivers; and forests on the mountains as protective guard against water-related disasters,” she said. Displaying slides and photos of destruction in the Japanese cities, she said the greenbelts had witnessed lesser destruction as compared to areas without plant cover.
“While the degree of devastation might suggest otherwise, but two things are to be kept in mind that a 200-300 metres wide coastal forest buffered most of the tsunami waves’ energy, and the presence of greenbelts and other barriers saved countless lives,” she said, maintaining that this calamity have been far worse if not for those greenbelts. The IUCN regional director said that some countries planned building protective walls at the coast but these walls would be useful only for normal surges and not during a tsunami or cyclone.
Citing example from the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, Kabraji said the waves spread across the whole region but wherever there were mangrove plantations and coral reefs, the damage was much lesser. In 1930’s, a tsunami up to 30 feet had hit Pakistan’s coast but with little or no habitation in the coastal areas at that time, there was little damage done, she said. “If a tsunami of this magnitude hits Karachi now, there would be far more loss of life and property,” she added.
Kabraji said that after a number of cyclones hit Bangladesh’s coast during the 70’s and 80’s, efforts were concentrated on planting mangroves and building mud dykes along the coast. It was observed that cyclone waves had flattened mangroves up to 30km inland and had there been no mangroves, the destruction could have been up to 60km inland, she added.
IUCN Country Representative Shah Murad Aliani said the mangroves are also a cheaper alternative than dykes and stonewalls in mitigating sea intrusion. “The year 2011 has been declared the International Year of Forests, which gives us all the more reason to create awareness about this national asset,” he added.
IUCN natural resource expert Ghulam Qadir Shah said the frequency of natural calamities has increased manifolds around the world due to climatic changes. “We need to equip ourselves more effectively in the light of the lesson learned from the 2004 South Asian tsunami and the recent Japan tsunami,” he added. Rafiul Haq said that Pakistan has recently become a part of ‘Mangroves for the Future’ programme.
Pakistan has a 990km mostly barren coastline thus exposed to natural disasters like tsunamis and cyclones. In 1945, a massive tsunami killed 5,000 people at the Balochistan coast. Since then, there have been regular occurrences of cyclones along the coast of Sindh and Balochistan. In 1999, the Sindh coast was hit by a cyclone. In 2010, cyclone Phet ended up hitting Gwadar and Keti Bunder, resulting in loss of property in Gwadar and its surrounding areas.
