Kosrae's Coast
Reducing coastal hazard risks on Kosrae
coastal hazards
(C) Doug Ramsay & KIRMA, 2008
The issues
On Kosrae, major typhoon events are rare with the main tracks located to the north and west of island. The last major typhoon to directly affect the island and cause significant damage was in 1905.
The absence of a significant natural destructive event, within memory of the current population, has had a major impact on the development pattern that has occurred around the island particularly over the last 50 years.
Virtually the entire population and most of the island infrastructure is now located within the immediate coastal hinterland on land generally less than 2 m above normal high tidal levels.
The absence of a significant natural destructive event, within memory of the current population, has had a major impact on the development pattern that has occurred around the island particularly over the last 50 years.
Virtually the entire population and most of the island infrastructure is now located within the immediate coastal hinterland on land generally less than 2 m above normal high tidal levels.
In addition to much of Kosrae's development occurring close to the coastline, coastal erosion problems have also intensified over the same period.
This has led to a landward retreat of between 5 to 30 m of the shoreline around much of the island and a loss of ocean reef flat mangrove areas, particularly along the Malem coast.
These erosion problems are due to a number of factors, both natural and human related.
Despite this, Kosrae’s coastal zone is still in a relatively natural and healthy state but will require careful future management if this state is to continue.
This has led to a landward retreat of between 5 to 30 m of the shoreline around much of the island and a loss of ocean reef flat mangrove areas, particularly along the Malem coast.
These erosion problems are due to a number of factors, both natural and human related.
Despite this, Kosrae’s coastal zone is still in a relatively natural and healthy state but will require careful future management if this state is to continue.
The links from this page contain information relating to to coastal hazards on Kosrae and the potential effects of climate change on these hazards.
The impacts of coastal hazards varies from place to place around Kosrae. Understanding the different characterics of the coast, how it has evolved how it may change in the future are important in understanding what future impacts coastal erosion and flooding will cause. This section will be developed with more pages and information in due course.
The impacts of coastal hazards varies from place to place around Kosrae. Understanding the different characterics of the coast, how it has evolved how it may change in the future are important in understanding what future impacts coastal erosion and flooding will cause. This section will be developed with more pages and information in due course.
In this section:
Downloads
(C) Doug Ramsay & KIRMA, 2008
Coming soon....
- Is Kosrae at risk from a tsunami?
- Why the Malem coast mangroves are disappearing (and why they were there in the first place).
- What is El Nino and La Nina and why does it affect weather and climate on Kosrae
- More on climate change and the possible impacts
- How the coast of Kosrae formed.
Coastal erosion has also increased
Find out more
