Marina Beach - Incidents

Incidents

In 1966, a tramp ship SS Damatis sank near the Marina due to a cyclone in the region.

The beachfront was severely damaged by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The tsunami waves, caused due to an M 9.0 magnitude earthquake at about 257 km south-southeast of Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, on the Indian Ocean floor on 26 December 2004 at 6.20 a.m. IST, struck the beach, which is about 2028 km southeast from the epicentre, at 8.40 a.m. IST. The reported height of the tsunami waves at the beach was 6 m which washed away about 206 persons on the beach, most of whom were morning joggers and children playing cricket on the beach, including a few tourists. With the assistance of the World Bank, the government built 2,000 temporary Marina beach shelters each measuring about 250 sq.ft. to house families affected by the tsunami at a cost of 172.3 million. However, in 2012, new houses for residents of tenements on the Marina Beach was planned to be taken up under a Disaster Preparedness Project of the state government.

As a visible change in the beach immediately after the tsunami, the intertidal area was much flatter on 27 December 2004, which usually featured a gentle slope. However, the usual slope started to appear 4 days after the tsunami and normal profile was restored in about 15 days. The receding wave after the tsunami lasted for more than 24 h. Post tsunami, there was a distinct variation in the distribution of sand grains in the beach until the 4th day. However, from the 5th day after the tsunami, normal composition of sand grains appeared to have been restored at different depths. The tsunami also resulted in various geomorphological changes in the region such as those in the contour of the 2,000 km-long Burma plate, which sits atop the India plate, resulting in a rise in the land level of Chennai, ranging between 0.5 cm and 3 cm.

Following the tsunami, there was a distinct increase in the meiofaunal density in the beach. Various meiofauna found in the beach after tsunami include foraminiferans (Elphidium sp.), cnidarians (Halammohydra sp., Psammohydra sp.), turbellarians (Otoplana sp., Macrostomum sp.), nemertines, nematodes (Halalaimus setosus, Desmodora sp., Chromadora sp., Sabatieria sp., Steineria sp., Metapselionema sp.), gastrotrichs (Chaetonotus sp., Thaumastoderma sp.), rotifers, kinorhynchs (Cateria sp.), polychaetes (Hesionides sp.), archiannelids (Polygordius madrasensis, Saccocirrus minor), oligochaetes (Marionina sp.), harpacticiod copepods (Arenosetella indica, Psammastacus acuticaudatus, Leptastacus euryhalinus, Emertonia minuta, Sewellina reductus), ostracods (Polycope sp.), isopods (Angeliera phreaticola), halacarids (Halacarus sp.), insects, and various other species.