Healthy coastlines mitigate disasters.Studies of the environmental impacts of last December's Indian Ocean Indian Ocean, third largest ocean, c.28,350,000 sq mi (73,427,000 sq km), extending from S Asia to Antarctica and from E Africa to SE Australia; it is c.4,000 mi (6,400 km) wide at the equator. It constitutes about 20% of the world's total ocean area. tsunamis point to the vital role healthy coastal resources play in reducing disaster risks. Places that had relatively intact natural barriers, including coral reefs coral reefs, limestone formations produced by living organisms, found in shallow, tropical marine waters. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate (limestone). , mangroves, and sand dunes, were largely spared from the devastation of the waves, which killed more than 200,000 people in seven countries. In February, the UN Environment Programme reported that mangrove mangrove, large tropical evergreen tree, genus Rhizophora, that grows on muddy tidal flats and along protected ocean shorelines. Mangroves are most abundant in tropical Asia, Africa, and the islands of the SW Pacific. forests in Thailand buffered buildings from the force of the massive waves, and vegetated sand dunes in Sri Lanka's Yala and Bundala National Parks prevented seawater seawater Water that makes up the oceans and seas. Seawater is a complex mixture of 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and small amounts of other substances. Much of the world's magnesium is recovered from seawater, as are large quantities of bromine. from intruding inland. In the Maldives, notes the World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization for the conservation, research and restoration of the natural environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in the United States and Canada. , considerable damage was prevented by the government's diligence in protecting reefs, which bore the brunt of the impact. Conversely, in areas where natural defenses had been degraded by coastal development, shrimp farming, coral mining, and other human activities, damage and loss of life were much greater. Indian environmentalists have attributed the high death toll and damage in Tamil Nadu state to widespread coastal clearing in recent decades, which destroyed nearly one-third of the mangrove area. In Sri Lanka, some of the heaviest damage was in areas where illegal coral mining and reef damage had caused severe beach erosion. Unfortunately, these resources also suffered during the December disaster. In Indonesia, damage to some 25,000 hectares of mangroves cost an estimated $118 million in economic losses. And some of the worst reef destruction is reported around India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands Andaman and Nicobar Islands (ăn`dəmən, nĭk`ōbär), union territory (2001 provisional pop. 356,265), India, in the Bay of Bengal. Port Blair (1991 pop. 74,955), in the Andamans, is the capital. , a rich reef area boasting some 200 coral species. Governments are now calling for massive coastal restoration to protect against future tidal surges. Indonesia announced plans to replant re·plant v. To reattach an organ, limb, or other body part surgically to the original site. n. An organ, limb, or body part that has been replanted. at least 30,000 hectares of mangroves in hard-hit Aceh province, including in previously residential areas. Malaysia has called for mangroves to be protected from coastal development, while Sri Lanka is considering laws that would ban further destruction of mangroves and dunes and compel developers to replant and build artificial reefs. But it remains to be seen whether this restoration can be done in an ecologically sensitive way. |
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