Drishtikone
Remember the scenes from "The World After Tomorrow" where the sea comes inland? And the how the Global Warming experts talk about ocean-side cities and islands being covered by sea soon into the future? Well, the FUTURE has happened.. and in fact has been happening for last 15 years!! In Orissa.
Five Villages have been devoured by the sea. Tidal waves came and gobbled up villages and swept the houses and everything else. Thankfully there was no loss of life. Guys Global Warming is FOR REAL!!
On Wednesday, a big tidal wave hit the coast in the Satabhaya area of Kendrapara district. It swept away homes and inundated farmland. But was no exception.
Tidal waves like this one have been a regular phenomenon in the area. In the past 15 years, the sea has come inside the land by 2.5 kilometers. And as many as 600 families are leading a precarious existence in the Satabhaya and Kanhupur areas due to this phenomenon.
Satabhaya, as the name suggests, once boasted of seven adjacent villages. Five of them have now been completely devoured by the sea. Thirteen families lost their homes to the surging waters on Wednesday. There was, fortunately, no loss of lives.
Kendrapara collector Kasinath Sahu tried to play down the danger: “The waves that struck were certainly taller than the average tide. But it was not 20-feet-high as reported by some papers.”
But past episodes only go to show how imminent and real this danger is. In the early 1980s, Gobindpur, Manhipur and Kuainri Ora villages went under the sea.
In the mid ’90s, the sea devoured two more villages Kharikula and Sarpada. Only Satabhaya and Kanhupur remain but for how long, no one knows.
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