Srinivas, V. , Baird, Andrew, Kerr, Alexander, and Ram, Sunita (2008) Coastal Bio-shields and their Putative Role During Large Weather Related Disturbance Events IN: Bhalla, R.S, Ram, Sunita and Srinivas, V. (eds) Studies on Vulnerability and Habitat Restoration along the Coromandel Coast. Report Section. FERAL, UNDP-UNTRS, Pondicherry, India .

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Abstract

[Extract] 4.1 Background

Even four years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, one of the most widely debated topics has been the role of coastal vegetation in mitigating impacts of the tsunami. Following the aftermath, several publications, both in scientific journals and popular media (Anonymous, 2005; Ganesan, 2005; Kar and Kar, 2005; Kathiresan and Rajendran, 2005; Kumar, 2005; Anonymous, 2006; Dahdouh-Guebas et al., 2006; Raghunathan, 2006; Vermaat and Thampanya, 2006; Olwig et al., 2007), staked claims on the positive and protective role coastal vegetation provided in the event of such large scale natural disasters (see Mukherjee et al., 2007b for a compilation). Piloted and supported by this, huge amounts of money was spent in creating bio-shields along coastal stretches to act as natural defences against events like the tsunami (Mukherjee et al., 2007b). While these modifications to coastal stretches were being implemented, a few studies indicated that coastal vegetation had very little or no protective role to play in the events like the tsunami (Kerr et al., 2006; Bhalla, 2007; Madhusudan et al., 2007; Mukherjee et al., 2007b) and suggest that the role of other coastal features like topography, near shore bathymetry, distance to continental shelf, etc. need to be considered as variables that explain the observed inundation distances.

Item ID:	18361
Item Type:	Report (Report Section)
Keywords:	tsunami, mangroves, bioshields, ecology, policy, natural disasters
Date Deposited:	06 Aug 2012 04:55
FoR Codes:	06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0602 Ecology > 060205 Marine and Estuarine Ecology (incl Marine Ichthyology) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960808 Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity @ 100%
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