tsunami impacts and response

1
tsunami impacts and response
iucn regional marine programme asiasri lanka and
thailand country offices cordio and gcrmn south
asia
2
iucn regional marine programme

• joint coordination and project activities
• iucn rmp (iucn regional marine programme)
• cordio (coral reef degradation in the indian
  ocean)
• gcrmn (global coral reef monitoring network)
• conservation of biodiversity and management of
  seas, coasts and their resources, maintaining
  socio-economic benefits
• establishment of an effectively managed system of
  representative marine protected areas
• conservation of coastal and marine species,
  control of alien invasive species
• enhancing knowledge and contributing to effective
  communication about coastal and marine issues

3
cordio south asia

• india
• socio-economic monitoring, awareness in ut
  lakshadweep, caress
• livelihoods, monitoring, restoration and capacity
  building in gulf of mannar, sdmri
• monitoring, outreach and capacity building in the
  andaman islands, rwmc
• maldives
• bio-physical monitoring, recruitment and
  bio-erosion and tourism, mrc
• sri lanka
• bio-physical monitoring and capacity building,
  nara, eastern university
• ornamental fish and other harvesting, nara
• alternative livelihoods, piloting and review,
  tcp, sacep
• regional
• training courses, coral reef policy dialogues,
  support to workshops and meetings

4
gcrmn south asia

• dfid funded project in south asia 1997-2001
• training in socio-economic and bio-physical
  monitoring
• coral reef policy and stakeholders fora
• database development
• informing and influencing strategy, understanding
  data needs

5
impact on coral reefs, sri lanka

• overall very patchy impact, low to extreme
• worse in the east than in the south west
• few reefs have lost structural integrity and
  ecological functionality
• most damage is mechanical, breakage and toppling
• loss of fish habitat, some changes in fish
  composition
• possible implications for fisheries, both food
  and ornamental
• some smothering, primarily from resuspended
  marine sediments rather than terrigenous matter
• litter and debris is abundant

• benthic cover at dutch bay, trincomalee, in 2003
  and 2005
• 80 reduction in coral cover
• increase in recently dead coral, bare rock,
  rubble and sand
• shift from predominantly biotic to unconsolidated
  and abiotic bethos

6
impact on coral reefs, sri lanka

• pre tsunami
• high coral cover at dutch bay, trincomalee,
  eastern sri lanka

• post tsunami
• extreme loss of live coral and three dimensional
  reef structure

7
impact on coral reefs, andaman islands

• north, middle andamans and north sentinel
  uplifted
• the west coast of the middle and north andaman,
  are uplifted more than two meter causing
  extensive death of corals
• wave patterns have changed
• beaches changed and some barriers for turtles
• south andaman and surrounding areas submerged
• most of the area submerged by around one meter
• the ritchies archipelago had almost no
  submergence or uplifting
• coral reef mortality mainly mechanical and severe
  in narrow channels which funneled and focused the
  energy of the tsunami
• the mangroves in south andaman, where the water
  depth has increased, have suffered extensive
  mortality, while in the northern uplifted areas
  mortality has been negligible
• abundant litter in the middle andaman
• in some areas there is an extensive deposition of
  sand resulting in disappearance of extensive
  coral beds

8

• earthquake impacts in the andaman islands

9

• coral mortality in middle andaman
• mostly earthquake related

10

• coral mortality in ritchies archipelago
• mostly caused by tsunami, in channels
• similar patterns in wandor and mg national park

11
immediate impacts

• direct damage to marine and coastal ecosystems
• varied and patchy impact, at times severe mostly
  low-moderate
• coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds
• dunes, seashore vegetation, plantations, lagoons,
  estuaries, salt marshes
• livelihood impacts through
• damage to natural resource base
• destroyed equipment, e.g. fishing gear and
  tourism facilities
• loss of markets, e.g. unwillingness to eat fish,
  few tourists
• further damage to already stressed and degraded
  ecosystems and resources
• unsustainable use before the tsunami (e.g. over
  fishing, blast fishing, coral mining,
  indiscriminate mangrove cutting)
• other stresses such as land runoff, sedimentation
  and pollution
• coral mass mortality due to el niño 1998 and
  climate change

12
secondary impacts

• clearance of enormous amounts of rubble and
  debris requires deposition areas
• relocation of communities places demands for
  land, often in already densely inhabited coastal
  areas
• the reconstruction process places high demands on
  materials used in reconstruction, e.g. wood, sand
  and cement
• marine resources will come under strain with the
  return of fishing capacity and markets as well as
  tourism facilities
• the secondary impacts of the tsunami are in many
  cases more detrimental to environmental health
  than the direct impact

13
management implications

• the tsunami damages and implications are severe,
  but
• the type of damage is often not very different
  from any other damages
• nor are many of the threats and complications new
  
• damage, threats and complications have been
  exacerbated
• to reduce damage and aid recovery priority should
  be given to
• identifying and addressing special needs arising
  directly from the tsunami
• dissemination of relevant information in
  appropriate format to institutions formulating or
  implementing reconstruction policy
• minimizing secondary tsunami impacts through
  green reconstruction
• strengthening capacity and systems for sound
  coastal management
• improving management of mcpas
• increasing stakeholder participation
• controlling rampant illegal practices (e.g. sea
  coral mining, blast fishing)
• implementing existing laws and regulations where
  sufficient rather than developing new

14
reports and information materials

• iucn statements on marine, forests, wetlands,
  etc
• decision makers guide to reconstruction
• best practice guidelines - information briefs
• marine assessment sri lanka
• marine assessments in the region carried out by
  cordio partners
• assessment report on hambantota and eastern
  province, sri lanka and koh phrathong, thailand
• methodologies for marine and terrestrial damage
  assessment
• www.iucn.org
• www.iucn.org/tsunami
• www.cordio.org