sri lanka tsunami

F. Dahdouh-Guebas^1,,L.P. Jayatissa³,D. Di Nitto¹,J.O. Bosire⁴,D. Lo Seen⁵andN. Koedam^2,

¹ Biocomplexity Research Team, c/o General Botany and Nature Management, Mangrove Management Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
² General Botany and Nature Management, Mangrove Management Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium.
³ Department of Botany, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka.
⁴ Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute, PO Box 81651, Mombasa, Kenya.
⁵ Institut Français de Pondichéry, Rue St. Louis 11, BP 33, 605 001 Pondicherry, India.

Summary

Whether or not mangroves function as buffers against tsunamis is the subject of in-depth research, the importance of which has been neglected or underestimated before the recent killer tsunami struck. Our preliminary post-tsunami surveys of Sri Lankan mangrove sites with different degrees of degradation indicate that human activity exacerbated the damage inflicted on the coastal zone by the tsunami.