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Swallowed by the sea
By N. Dilshath Banu
It was no tsunami. But living close to the sea is fraught with danger these days, as residents in Katuneriya close to Marawila discovered to their horror on September 2.

“I saw the waves swallowing the coconut trees in our backyard and taking them far away. A huge gush of water covered our lavatory. Once the water receded, there was no lavatory left. Then I saw the brick wall of our kitchen collapsing into the water with a sound like a huge roar. I got really scared. I knew that something was going to happen,” said Christy Anthony, 41, a fisherman from Katuneriya.

For Christy and his family, Friday September 2 began just like any other day. Christy went to the sea, his children went to school and his wife attended to her daily household chores. But once he noticed the waves surging to engulf his backyard that evening, his instinct told him to move out of the house. That night, Christy and his family went to the nearby Pahala Katuneriya church, taking their belongings with them. Although he knew he was safe in the church, Christy was uneasy.

“I couldn’t sleep that night. I got up early and walked to my house. But I didn’t see any sign of a house there. I thought I must have missed the place and walked around many times, trying to locate my house. When I realized that the waves had taken my house, I didn’t know what to do. We don’t have any land to build another house,” said Christy, gazing forlornly at the temporary shelter set up by the Red Cross where he now lives.

“I have been in this area since I was born. There has been sea erosion taking place gradually. My father used to tell me that something similar happened during his time. Those days, the sea was very far away. But in recent times, the sea had come so close that most of us didn’t have backyards any more. All we could see was the sea behind the walls of our kitchen,” added Christy, staring at the beach.

Waves splash on the fallen slabs of the concrete that lie semi-submerged in the dark soil. Partially exposed roots of coconut trees lie all around, their trunks rolling to and fro along the beach. The golden sands are no more. Mineral deposits have turned them into dark soil. Suddenly, the waves splash with renewed force on the shore and a heap of sand on the edge of the beach collapses into the water. “This is how my house came down,” says Christy, breaking the silence.

Manel, a mother of two, returned to her childhood home in Katuneriya a few years ago. Her family didn’t own a house until six months ago when her mother invested some money to build a home for them. The house was built but Manel’s mother’s dream of living in her own home was shortlived. What happened to her is similar to what happened to Christy. Now she stares at the sea, from the rubble of her broken home.

“I saw my lavatory and part of my kitchen being washed away. I feared it was another tsunami, but many told me that it is not so. I stayed that night in the church but didn’t take many of my belongings as I thought I would be able to get them the next day. But the next morning we found everything had been washed away even my grandchildren’s school items. Luckily, we found many of our things stuck in between the broken foundation stones. But I don’t know where we are going to take them now,” said Manel’s mother, tears streaming down her face.

Father Quintus Fernando who has been helping the community said that the problem of sea erosion along the Katuneriya beach was not new. “These people have been battling the waves for a very long time. We have been helping them with temporary shelter in the church. The District Secretary along with the Social Services Department is also providing temporary relief measures. But sea erosion is very severe these days and the government must take strong measures to protect the people and their property,” said Fr. Fernando.

What Christy, Manel and the other three families who were affected in Katuneriya experienced was the result of sea erosion; a phenomenon that is not new to them. Throughout their lives, they have witnessed the gradual erosion of the beaches. The sea has now even invaded the thin rock barrier constructed a few metres away from their homes.

Causes of sea erosion
What will become of these humble folk who have been made homeless overnight? The Director of the Department of Coast Conservation, Dr. R.A.D.B Samaranayake said that they are taking measures to construct rock boulders along the coastal belt to prevent waves swallowing up lands in the residential areas of Katuneriya.

“It’s a very pathetic situation prevailing in the coastal region of Katuneriya. They are not illegal dwellers on the beach. Earlier those people living in the coastal areas had their dwellings a few metres away from the beach. Gradually,erosion led to the sea water intruding closer to their houses and now some of them are living very close to the sea,” said Dr. Samaranayake.
Even prior to the Katuneriya incident, the Coast Conservation Department had identified vulnerable beach areas along the coast and taken steps to create Coastal Protection Structures (CPS) which include the placing of rock boulders and construction of groynes.

In the west coast, the CPS belt stretches 3 km north of Katuneriya. The other areas were fortified with extra sand to slow down the rate of erosion.
However, last week, the sand fortifications on the Katuneriya beach were washed away once again by the strong waves intensified by monsoonal disturbances.

“Sri Lanka is prone to sea erosion as a result of illegal sea sand mining, coral mining, sand mining in the rivers adjoining the coastal areas as well as illegal constructions on the beach. It can also happen through natural phenomena such as storm surges and disturbances during the monsoon period. What happened in Katuneriya is mainly due to this, but the sea erosion could have been aggravated by sand mining in the adjacent rivers,” added Dr. Samaranayake.

Turbulent weather
The strong winds and waves experienced on the west coast last week were due to the intensified monsoon, explained the Deputy Director of the Metereological Department, S.H. Kariyawasam. “The southwest monsoon became active last week. It was a result of some disturbance in the southern Indian region and in the adjoining Bay of Bengal. But now there’s no need to fear, as the disturbance has ceased,” he said.

Commenting on the strong waves, the Director of the Coast Conservation Department, Dr. R.A.D.B. Samaranayake said that the turbulent weather during the monsoon period created strong energy in the sea resulting in strong waves. “The strong waves lead to sea surges. A series of sea surges had intensified the process of sea erosion resulting in destruction of certain residential areas in Katuneriya.”

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