The Marina Beach is the second largest beach in a city after the Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California, the world's longest city beach. There exist, in fact, several longer beaches, including Praia do Cassino in Brazil, Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, Padre Island on the US Gulf Coast, Ninety Mile Beach in Australia and Ninety Mile Beach, New Zealand. A similar beach exists in Dubai, UAE. However, unlike the other beaches, it is an urban beach similar to the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.
The beach begins near Fort St. George in the north to Besant Nagar in the south, a distance of about 12km. A famous characteristic of the beach is the set of stone statues that adorn the roadside area of the beach. Most statues are of Indian/local legends like Mahatma Gandhi, Kannagi, Thiruvalluvar, while others have symbolic significance like the Statue of Labour. Also memorials for M. G. Ramachandran and C. N. Annadurai, former Chief ministers of Tamil Nadu are present on the beach. Recently, a statue of the legendary actor Sivaji Ganesan was installed.
The Marina used to be famed for its pristine beauty, jolly ambiance, and rich ecosystems. The beach and water has become polluted. A proliferation of plastic bags, human waste and other pollutants have rendered many parts of the beach unusable. In recent years, many voluntary organizations have taken up the task of cleaning up the Marina and protecting the ecosystem. Particular efforts include protection of Olive Ridley turtle nests along the Neelangarai section of the beach. Despite these problems however, a visit to the Marina is a sine qua non for any tourist coming to Chennai.
On December twenty six, two thousand and four, a tsunami caused by an earthquake struck the shores of Chennai at around the morining. The entire coastline of Chennai, including Marina beach, was affected. Sea waters engulfed the entire Marina beach, whose width is quite large. Morning joggers, children playing cricket were among those affected. The worst hit was the fishing community settled nearby the beaches. In all, the tsunami left behind two hundred and six dead in Chennai and caused destruction to the properties of the people in the city. While recovery has been difficult, the fishing community has been hard at work rebuilding their treasured coastline to boost their morale and make the area attractive to vacationers. It was held that since it was a Sunday morning, casualties were actually less, given the fact that people throng the beach in evenings.
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