Kollam's Munroe islands: Vanishing to disaster

KOLLAM: The picturesque Munroe islands, popularly known as  Munroe Thuruthu, are sinking and in danger of vanishing in the near future.   Many reasons have been cited for  the phenomenon, including the devastating tsunami of  2004, climate change caused by global warming and construction of a dam at Thenmala, upstream of Kallada river preventing the delta accumulation on the islands.  

Munroe Thuruthu, having an area of 13.4 square km, is a panchayat in Kollam and shares its  boundaries with the Ashtamudi lake and the Kallada river.  It is formed at the confluence of both the water bodies. The islands were  found to be sinking after the tsunami and the lives of over 13, 000 people there are in danger.  Various studies were conducted on the issue, but no feasible solution nor projects to rehabilitate the people have been proposed.

Over 70 percent of the panchayat is the delta formed by the Kallada river and the people mostly depend on prawn  farming.  It is also called the  prawn village of the state.

Most of the islands were permanently inundated to an extent of over 1.25 metres in the last few years. The islands, including Kidapram north and south, Kandramkani, Pattamthuruthu east and west  and Nenmeni north,  have been affected by  tidal flooding.

“Many people  in Munroe Thuruthu have lost their homes due to tidal flooding and there is scarcity of drinking water. It takes almost 25 km  by road from Kollam to reach the islands, which could have been reduced to a few kilometres if a bridge was constructed at Perumon.  Munroe Thuruthu has a railway line passing through its centre and only the eastern side has roads. People living in the western side, the old and the ill, have to cross the railway lines with difficulty to reach the road,” Ms S. Indu from Munroe Thuruthu told DC.

There are two types of lands constituting  the Munroe islands; one is the already formed land area and the other is delta formed by the Kallada river. Earlier, the people used to reclaim the land by filling the marshy delta with soil during low tide  to support their coconut cultivation. When they started prawn farming 25 years ago, the procedure was abandoned  which resulted in the current situation.

 “Water level has risen to over six inches and over half a feet during the high tide recently. But it could not be confirmed whether it was due to the tsunami,” Ms. Indu said.  Over 300  families were learnt to have abandoned the place because their houses were flooded permanently.  

THE THEORIES
A central team that visited Munroe Thuruthu said  that the phenomenon was due to change in climatic conditions caused by global warming and unscientific construction. The team  found the water level had  risen in the Ashtamudi lake that surrounds the islands, immersing them partially. This is due to the  rise in sea level caused by global warming, the study said.

Meanwhile,  a scientist from Kollam, Sainudeen Pattazhi,  based on a field study, concluded that the post-tsunami tectonic shift and dam construction that affect delta formation were the reasons for the sinking which would make Munroe islands disappear in a short  period of time.

“In a recent phenomenon, Munroe Thuruthu was flooded during the high tide which denotes the axial lowering of the land mass. It is not due to climate change, specifically the global warming as assessed,” Mr Sainudeen Pattazhi told DC.

The study found that some areas,  which were situated as high as three metres above the water level before the tsunami,  had sunk by .5 to 1 metre. This dip is due to the downward movement of minor tectonic plates in the area caused by the tsunami, according to Mr. Sainudeen. He also said that dam construction along the upstream of Kallada river had  also contributed to the  phenomenon.
The  Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad conducted a study and found that Munroe Thuruthu was  sinking because of the rise in water level due to global warming or the tectonic movement.

“The flooding of Munroe Thuruthu happened post-tsunami.  Sunderban and the Kutch region experienced flooding due to global warming.  Similar effects of global warming were found in Ashtamudi lake. The deltas and islands are more exposed to the threat of global warming and Munroe Thuruthu is a delta of Kallada river,” Mr V.K. Madhusoodanan, environment activist and environment sub-committee convenor of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad told DC.

The study said that the silt accumulation in Munroe Thuruthu had dropped to over 95 percent  because of the construction of the dam at Thenmala, the upstream of Kallada river. The tsunami tremors might have also affected the islands, besides the  vibrations of train service on the fragile delta. Mangroves were also extensively destroyed in these areas. “It is human activities, rather than global warming,  that make these islands sink in the lake faster,” the study said.