Posted on 12/27/2004 4:03:18 PM PST by Dallas59
PARIS (AFP) - Human activities, notably the building of coastal resorts and the destruction of natural protection, contributed to the enormous loss of life from killer tidal waves that hit the shores of the Indian Ocean after an earthquake, an environmental expert said.
Jeff McNeely, chief scientist of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN), who lived for several years in Indonesia and Thailand, two of the countries hit by Sunday's disaster, said it was "nothing new for nature" in a geologically active region.
"What has made this a disaster is that people have started to occupy part of the landscape that they shouldn't have occupied," he told AFP in a telephone interview from Paris. "Fifty years ago the coastline was not densely occupied as now by tourist hotels."
The hotels did not replace traditional villages because the villagers built inland, McNeely said.
"What has also happened over the last several decades is that many mangroves have been cleared to grow shrimp ponds so that we, here in Europe, can have cheap shrimp," he added.
"The mangroves were all along the coasts where there are shallow waters. They offered protection against things like tsunamis. Over the last 20-30 years, "they were cleared by people who didn't have the long-term knowledge of why these mangroves should have been saved, by outsiders who get concessions from the governments and set up shrimp or prawn farms."
The shrimps and prawns are sold to Europeans and other foreigners "at a price that does not include the environmental cost which is being paid today," McNeely said.
The same thing has been happening with the coral reefs that also provided protection to the coast, he explained.
"When a tsunami comes in, it first hits the coral reef which slows it down, then it hits the mangroves which furthers slow it down. It may get through that but by then a lot of the energy has already been dissipated."
Conservationists in India and Srilanka and Thailand had warned that mangroves had tremendous value for conservation and to protect the coastline, McNeely said.
On the other hand, Sunday's quake would not have been a disaster for local wildlife still left in the affected areas, he added.
"Those living along the coast are seldom particularly rare, that's not a rare habitat, the mangroves are not particularly rich in species, the species that live there are used to typhoons, to storms and all that.
"Animals are smart enough to move."
More than 23,000 people were killed in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar and Thailand as a result of the massive quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
Many victims were European and other holidaymakers swept away when the waves hit beach resorts.
But the bulk of the dead were residents of coastal towns inundated by waves more than 10 metres high and fishermen living in flimsy housing along the shores of the Indian Ocean.
>To a degree it's simply bringing up an issue of personal >responsibility
Reminds me of that song I learned in Sunday School about building your house on a rock instead of sand. If I choose to live on the edge of a volcano, I can't cry victim when my house is destroyed by an eruption.
(Not saying this is anyone's fault, but some responsibility does need to come from living and working on the beach. Nature is a b*tch)
CNN link:
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/TECH/science/12/27/tsunamis.environment.reut/
Yep, it was good, old Greenpeace.
"I live amongst the mangroves and I haven't seen the strand yet that could prevent a tsunami wave like that."
No one said prevent -
"When a tsunami comes in, it first hits the coral reef which slows it down, then it hits the mangroves which furthers slow it down. It may get through that but by then a lot of the energy has already been dissipated."
I happened to live in SEA for 15 years - and saw the destruction of the mangroves - beachfront development in their place.
Reminds me of people in the US living in flood plains and wondering why me?
One of the more tragic parts of this tragedy is that the areas where the greatest loss of life occured are not disaster prone areas.
The govts and others involved are very aware of potential bad weather, and take precautions. Unfortunately, they so no need to prepare for a tsunami.
Thanks for the heads up.
95% of tsunamis happen in the Pacific, that's why no-one was prepared for this. God is not a respector of persons and nature doesn't go by mans'laws. Shoot we may get global warming in Michigan someday. I hope we are ready.
BTTT!!!!!!!
I have a friend in the UP. Doesn't sound like "global warming" will be coming to your state any time soon.
I believe it was caused by all those tribal dances the Islanders do. The vibration over many eons caused the plates to slip and shift. Walla!!!!!
Although this man might seem somewhat opportunistic
if you cannot follow his line of thought,
I understand his main view - that the mangrove swamps
has been responsible in the past for diminishing the
effects of floods and storms. Human activities always
disturb the ecology, this time we interfered with
an ecosystem that was responsible for preserving animal
and human life along the coasts of the Indian Ocean.
Perhaps thousands of my fellow citizens indirectly fell
victims to the tourist industry building resorts on
what might very well have been old mangrove swamps,
I yet do not know for sure, but would like to know...
From a historical perspective, these tsunamis are
significant events, and do occur enough often to
have affected the ecology of the Indian Ocean area...
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