Thursday, January 27 2005 17:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The killer tsunami waves may have rendered the soil unfit for cultivation in the affected coastal areas by increasing salinity and the amount of aluminium and iron, an expert and official said in New Delhi today (Jan 27, 2005).

Disclosing this, Dr J S Samara, Deputy Director General, Natural Resource Management Division at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research told reporters that a scientific team from the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute was already surveying the areas, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

"Tsunami-induced intrusion of sea water in the fertile land of coastal areas in general and Andaman and Nicobar Islands in particular has rendered the soils unfit for cultivation," Samara said.

"The soils are salinised and loaded with heavy amounts of iron and aluminium," he said.

The four-membered team of experts would suggest ways and means of a quick response to the resources degraded by tsunamis, he said.

Samara said the high salt content needed to be leached out by water while "liming" can reduce the toxicity due to iron and aluminium. The salinity could be reduced in one-two years depending on the area, he said.

In these areas, different plants such a coconuts, palms and salt tolerant varieties of rice should be grown, he said.

Emphasising on the need for "shelf belts" of plants, he said the impact of killer waves was almost negligible in the areas covered by mangroves.

"Well exposed root network of mangrove vegetation curtailed the seed of tsunamis," he said.