Storm Fears Overshadow India Coast Decades After Tsunami
Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published December 19, 2024 | 02:40 PM
Akkaraipettai, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Dec, 2024) The deadly tsunami that swamped India's southern coast two decades ago was a one-off disaster, but storms that are growing ever more intense spark panic each time howling gales whip up waves.
Maragathavel Lakshmi shudders when she hears lashing rains or winds, recalling how her daughter was swept away when the 2004 tsunami, triggered by a huge earthquake off Indonesia, crashed onshore almost without warning.
"Weather alerts have made life easier, but the fear of what a heavy rain or strong wind might bring is still there," 45-year-old Lakshmi said.
More than 220,000 people were killed as the devastating waves hit shorelines around the Indian Ocean, including 16,389 in India, according to the international disaster database EM-DAT.
Fear of the weather is based on a very real threat -- and the risks are increasing.
Dangerous cyclones, the equivalent of hurricanes in the North Atlantic or typhoons in the northwestern Pacific, are an annual menace.
Better forecasting and more effective evacuation planning have dramatically reduced death tolls, but scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying their power.
"Summers are very harsh now and rains are heavier," Lakshmi said, saying weather alerts sent her anxiety soaring.
A warmer atmosphere holds more water, meaning rains are heavier.
"Strong winds scare us," said her husband Maragathavel, who like many in the region goes by only one name.
"Every time it rains heavily, water (floods) our area," the 49-year-old fisherman added. "It seems on those days that the sea has still not left us."
