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.

Philip L.-F. Liu,¹ Patrick Lynett,^2* Harindra Fernando,³ Bruce E. Jaffe,⁴ Hermann Fritz,⁵ Bretwood Higman,⁶ Robert Morton,⁴ James Goff,⁷ Costas Synolakis⁸

In response to the 26 December 2004 tsunami, a survey team of scientists was dispatched to Sri Lanka. Measurements made by the team show that the tsunami elevation and runup ranged from 5 to 12 meters. Eyewitnesses report that up to three separate waves attacked the coast, with the second or third generally the largest. Our conclusion stresses the importance of education: Residents with a basic knowledge of tsunamis, as well as an understanding of how environmental modifications will affect overland flow, are paramount to saving lives and minimizing tsunami destruction.

¹ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
² Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77845, USA.
³ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
⁴ Pacific Science Center, United States Geological Survey, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA.
⁵ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah, GA 31407, USA.
⁶ Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁷ National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, Ltd., Lyttelton, New Zealand.
⁸ Department of Civil Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.