State ill-prepared for the eco-disaster

A gloves-and-gum-boots clad army of volunteers is fighting one of the great ecological disasters on Chennai’s beaches and coastline as an unprecedented oil spill of gargantuan proportions happened due to the collision of two tankers. The scars of this spillage of an yet to be determined quantum of bunker oil from one battered ship will last for decades in the marine life and long after the rocks and sand visible to man are cleaned up. The damage to marine life and the whole ocean ecosystem is immeasurable. The primitive methods of cleaning the spill on land are pointers to how ill-prepared were the protocols of the system to deal with such disasters. Also, this was one manmade disaster that was entirely avoidable in the age of GPS -assisted navigation.

The port pilot who is supposed to guide large ships and tankers into the harbour was guilty of dereliction of duty and is the principal reason besides the human error factor in the navigation of the two tankers in and out of the port. The authorities of the Kamarajar port (Ennore) north of Chennai were guilty of underplaying the extent of the spill after having been in denial for a day once the collision took place. The Coast Guard personnel were heroic in putting out all their resources in the battle. Even then, the major water security force, which has to take charge of such eventualities, seemed ill-prepared to meet the threat in terms of equipment. Furthermore, the scientific help behind the mitigation efforts was questionable and the experts appear to have been reluctantly called in only after the realisation hit those in charge that they were failing to cope.

The state government stayed in the background right through a week-long crisis until the high court rapped it and tried to goad it into action. Lack of knowledge in dealing with such a disaster was no excuse to put the hands up. The state with its resources and access to scientists had to formulate a better plan of cleaning up the mess. The city most affected by the spill on its beaches did not respond with the alacrity it had showed in previous disasters like the tsunami and the cyclone. A volunteer force close to 2,000 was about the only assistance rendered; a dubious one at that since all those who put their hands up for the dirty job of cleaning the mess are bound to suffer the consequences of dealing with the oil they had to mechanically scoop up off the beaches.

None of those involved in the exercise can surmise that they have learnt anything from the crisis to be able to say they know how to take care of the next one because this oil spill is a clear and present danger. A lot more remains to be done before a couple of hundred tonnes of bunker oil are sucked out or dissipated and the state can do with all the help the Centre can give even at this late stage. Probes are important to fix the responsibility, so too the setting up of a better system of protocols to handle such a crisis if it were to recur.