Sea Walls

For coastal states to remain protected from floods in a natural manner Sea Walls are constructed . The first step is to identify and select the appropriate location for construction of a wall which is related to  the geographical size of a coastal state as well as the severity of climate change . Across the maritime countries the US estimates an expenditure of around $400 billion on building of sea walls ,spanning across 50,000 miles, catering to 22 states out of which 14 are coastal. The states of Florida, Louisiana and North Carolina are projected to spend roughly 76, 38 and 35 billion dollars respectively on construction of sea walls not to mention the cost of maintaining sea walls. The issue that surfaces is that is it better to construct surge barriers or sea walls.  Morocco has constructed a 260 meter long protective sea wall at the Jorf Ammouni cliff in Safi with almost 1600 km of its coastline being vulnerable.Sea walls are constructed using the Truline Hybrid System utilising concrete panels, piles of sheets and wood. Sea walls dont require an elaborate or integrated system and technology in order to function although it is imperative to analyse the viability of constructing sea walls or surge barriers.

Authored by Razeen Ahmed

Credit/Links ;

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-thames-barrier

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/30/before-the-flood-how-much-longer-will-the-thames-barrier-protect-london

https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/cross-border-action-climate-disasters-urgent-south-asia

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/8/what-makes-south-asia-so-vulnerable-to-climate-change https://www.concern.net/news/how-tens-thousands-trees-bangladesh-are-reducing-impacts-climate-change

https://weather.com/news/news/2019-06-21-climate-change-seawalls-cost https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jun/20/us-rising-seas-defense-seawalls-cost-report