Cyclone vulnerability assessment of cuddalore coast in Tamil Nadu, India using remote sensing, and GIS

Abstract

Over the years, cyclones have left a deep and dark footprint on the coastal region of the Cuddalore district in southeast India, which was one of the worst affected districts in the mainland. These disasters over the past several years have revealed the differential impacts due to social structure, economic conditions, and level of infrastructure. Therefore, there is a need for strategies to address the aspects of socioeconomic and infrastructural vulnerability. Cuddalore district is one of the most vulnerable districts for Cyclone. The present study investigates the vulnerability of eastern coastal states of India from potential cyclones using Remote Sensing and GIS. Mapping of cyclone vulnerability zone on 1:50000 scale along the Tamil Nadu coast has been carried out using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques with six physical parameters such as elevation, wind speed, historical cyclone event significant wave height, probable maximum precipitation, and Landuse and Landcover. The regular rank and weight method have been used to integrate the above parameters to achieve the cyclone vulnerability zone map. The resultant cyclone vulnerability zone map has been divided into five cyclone vulnerability categories, namely very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. The output of the study showed significant results, which reflect that the entire northern coastal taluks come under very high cyclone vulnerability zone whereas central and southern coastal taluks fall under high to low cyclone vulnerability zone. This information would serve useful in advanced planning to minimize associated cyclone losses and reduce threats to future coastal development.