Coastal Vulnerability Index for Parts of Orissa Coast, East Coast of India, Bay of Bengal

Abstract

Coastal zones are highly dynamic in nature and now a days worst affected by the increasing frequency of the extreme events like tsunami, storm surge and cyclone as result of global climatic change. So there is a need for inculcating efficient and sustainable use of coastal zone in management practices keeping in mind the needs of future generation and it is necessary to plan out some strategic methods which requires minute details of the coastal variables like; geomorphology, slope, sea level rise and there relative impact on the coast. In this context, Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) has been proved to be an effective tool for assessing the vulnerability of any coastal zone. CVI incorporates the first step of coastal management which aims at mapping the vulnerability of the coast. CVI takes into consideration several physical and socio economic parameters of the coast and their response to any natural hazards. The present research work emphasizes on developing a CVI for parts of Orissa which will rank the different segment of the study area as per their degree of vulnerability to any extreme event. The five variables used for the study are geomorphology, the rate of erosion/accretion, coastal slope, the most important socio- economic parameters like population and finally the distance from the shore. Each parameter is ranked on the basis their response to the degree of vulnerability in each grid of 5×5 km that covers the entire study area. Finally all the weighted parameters has been combined using GIS data base to derive the Coastal Vulnerability Index.
Keywords: Coastal vulnerability index, digital elevation model, shoreline change, geomorphology