India’s Coastal Zone: Physical, Demographic and Vulnerability Profile
摘要
India’s coastal zone, which consists of the districts along coastline, exhibits wide variations in terms of the physical features and demographics. It is susceptible to cyclonic storm events, which occur every year during the monsoon and cross the coast. The vulnerability of India’s coastal zone to such storm crossings varies with reference to both physical features and demographics. Therefore, assessing the vulnerability of coastal districts and depicting the spatial variance of it along India’s coast assumes importance. In this chapter, it is captured through the measures of insularity, density, exposure, and coarse vulnerability. Furthermore, relative/normalized indices have been computed of the above measures for the coastal districts so that the relative vulnerability profile of India’s coastal zone can be depicted. The coastal districts are also ranked on the basis of their scores on the above indices. Mumbai tops the list on insularity and vulnerability measures; whereas, Chennai ranks number one on population density; Ahmedabad gets placed on top on exposure. The analysis of coastal vulnerability and its variance depicted aids in designing appropriate policy interventions and narrowing down to intervention areas; moreover, it prepares a base for a finer scale investigation towards reducing the impacts of cyclonic storms and, thereby, altering the vulnerability profile of India’s coastal zone.