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In the aftermath of December 2004's devastating tsunami, governments are having to cope with problems ranging from waste disposal and degraded environments to the disruption of basic services like water supply and sanitation
 Besides the huge toll it took on lives and livelihoods the Indian Ocean tsunami also caused substantial environmental damage and disruption to basic services in all the areas where it struck on the morning of December 26, 2004. But, says a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) ‘After the Tsunami -- Rapid Environmental Assessment’ the destruction caused by the tsunami offers nations an opportunity to rebuild in a manner that preserves natural resources for the benefit of local communities.
The report, which gives a picture of the environmental devastation and damage to basic services in Indonesia, the Maldives, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Seychelles and Yemen, is based on surveys by UNEP teams out in the field working with other UN agencies in the Asia Pacific region and Africa, governments and civil society organisations, including the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF International). It also includes recommendations on how to deal with the aftermath of the disaster and suggestions on how to mitigate the toll of future calamities, citing measures already in place in some of the affected countries. “The report indicates that the environment was both a victim of the tsunami but also that it often played its part in reducing the impact. Where healthy and relatively intact features like coral reefs, mangroves and coastal vegetation were in place there is evidence that the damage was reduced. There are innumerable reasons to maintain healthy habitats like coral reefs. They are nurseries for fish and magnets for tourists. Now we have another reason to conserve them,” says UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer. “The report also makes it clear that handling the rubble and other wastes generated by the damage is a key issue for many of the concerned countries. It goes together with building the capacity of their environment ministries.” Key findings of the report Waste disposal
A key issue concerning many of the affected is how to deal with the huge quantities of waste generated from collapsed buildings and damage to public rubbish bins and dumpsites. It is estimated that in Banda Aceh alone, between seven and 10 million cubic metres of waste has been generated as a result of the tsunami. In the Maldives, solid waste like asbestos, fuel drums and large amounts of rubble have been pinpointed as a key problem, along with healthcare, human and animal waste and oil leaks from damaged generators. “The disposal of rubble and waste materials (in Sri Lanka) is proving to be a huge issue because of the sheer volume and associated costs,” the report says. It adds that emergency efforts there have led to the haphazard disposal of rubble along roads, in open fields, drainage ditches, waterways and on beaches. Managing post-tsunami waste also ranks as a high priority by the government of Thailand. In the Phi Phi islands alone, the total quantity of debris is estimated at up to 35,000 tonnes, of which some 13,000 tonnes have so far been collected. Somalia’s coastline has been used as a dumping ground for other countries’ nuclear and hazardous waste for many years as a result of a long civil war there and thus the inability of the authorities to police shipments or handle the waste. “The impact of the tsunami stirred up hazardous waste deposits on beaches around north Hobyo and Warsheik, south of Benadir. Contamination from waste deposits has caused health and environmental problems for the surrounding local fishing communities,” says the report. Many people in Somalia’s impacted areas are complaining of unusual health problems including acute respiratory infections, mouth bleeds and skin conditions. Water supply and sanitation
In many of the affected areas groundwater, bore holes and aquifers have been contaminated by salt water and bacteria as a result of seawater infiltration and damage to toilets, septic tanks and other sanitation systems. In the affected areas of Indonesia, rural water systems have been badly hit with an estimated 60,000 wells and 15,000 hand pumps contaminated, damaged or destroyed. All 28,000 hectares of coastal irrigation schemes in Aceh were severely impacted. In the Maldives, up to 90% of toilets on some of the badly affected islands may have been lost. Meanwhile, groundwater in over 30 of its islands may have been contaminated by sewage with tests indicating that many of these supplies now exceed international health safety limits. A large number of people in the Maldives rely on community or individual rainwater storage tanks for their drinking water supplies. According to the Maldives Water and Sanitation Authority, well over 90% have been damaged. In Somalia there is evidence that hazardous waste from dumpsites has contaminated groundwater. In the affected areas of Sri Lanka, all of the 62,000 water wells are now contaminated with saltwater and, in some cases, sewage. A survey of wells in the six tsunami-affected provinces of Thailand found that in Phanga Nga province nearly 190 out of 530 wells were unsafe due to sewage-related contamination. Villagers living on the southeast coast of Yemen report increased salinity of groundwater wells as a problem. The tsunami there penetrated up to 400 metres inland so it is likely that some wells were affected and may be unsuitable for human consumption. Soil fertility
There are concerns that the fertility of soil in tsunami-affected areas will be affected in the short to medium term as a result of saltwater contamination. Rice crops on the western islands of Indonesia were reported to have turned yellow in the fields within three weeks of the disaster. In the Seychelles, the soil around Victoria still has a high salt content -- double the amount most plants on the islands are able to tolerate. In Sri Lanka, several thousands fruit and rice farms in Trincomalee and Batticoloa districts have been affected by salt contamination. The agricultural sector in the Maldives was one of the worst hit -- seawater damaged an estimated 1,200 farms and smallholder plots. Over 840,000 timber trees were also damaged on the islands. Around 20,000 hectares of land were inundated by seawater in Thailand, with an estimated 1,500 hectares of agricultural land severely impacted. Coral reefs and mangroves
The impact of the tsunami on coral reefs, mangroves and coastal vegetation, and the latter’s ability to mitigate the devastation of the killer waves, varied enormously across and within affected countries. In the Aceh region nearest the earthquake’s epicentre, north Sumatra provinces and the western islands of Indonesia, an estimated 30% of the nearly 100,000 hectares of coral reefs was damaged. The damage resulted partly as a result of the impact of the gigantic waves and partly due to materials ranging from vehicles and fuel tankers to silt and mud being dragged into the ocean. Nearly a third of the 50,000 hectares of pre-tsunami coastal forests of Aceh and north Sumatra are estimated to have been damaged. Damage to coral reefs in the Seychelles was generally low, with the exception of the St Anne Marine Park where up to 27% of the reef at one site was damaged. The Seychelles’ small but important stands of mangroves, amounting to around 30 sq km, were also impacted mainly as a result of their ‘breathing roots’ being smothered by sand and silt. Over 12% of coral reefs along Thailand’s affected Andaman coast have been ‘significantly impacted’, with reefs in some areas (such as those in the Mu Ko Surin National Park) so badly affected that they may soon be closed to tourists. Wildlife
Animals did not escape the tsunami’s wrath either. Turtle conservation projects in Thailand were badly hit -- the breeding and conservation centre at the Tap Lamu Naval Base in Phang Nga province is in ruins and around 2,000 turtles have been lost. There is also concern that large amounts of fishing gear may have been washed away and is now trapping, killing and harming marine life. Research from Yemen indicates that in the Al Mahra Governorate alone, 500 fishing nets, 1,500 octopus traps and 8,000 lobster traps were lost to the sea. “However, the largest possible source of ‘ghost’ nets is likely to come from losses in Sri Lanka and Indonesia where tens of thousands of nets may have been swept out to sea,” says the UNEP report. Beach erosion and coastal vegetation
Some areas of the Seychelles, including the Anse Kerlan beach in the northwest of Praslin, suffered significant beach erosion with rehabilitation costs ranging from $ 1.4 million to $ 500,000 depending on the type of measures to be employed. It is estimated that in the Maldives more than “100 million square metres of beach on 130 islands were eroded by the tsunami’s force. Extensive erosion caused sediment to accumulate in the harbours of 44 islands, impacting an area of approximately 400,000 square metres,” says the report. Beach erosion also appears to have affected parts of the Yemeni island of Socotra, according to preliminary studies. The tsunami affected 650 km of the Somali coast, which suggests that the impact was greater because of the huge clearance of coastal mangroves for firewood, building material and charcoal markets in the Middle East. Sri Lanka offers some of the best proof that intact coastal ecosystems, such as coral reefs and healthy sand dunes, help buffer aggressive waves. Most of the Yala and Bundala national parks were spared because “vegetated coastal sand dunes completely stopped the tsunami, which was only able to enter where the dune line was broken by river outlets,” says the report. Some of the severest damage to Sri Lanka’s coast was where mining and damage to coral reefs had been heavy in the past. The report’s recommendations The UNEP report offers a string of recommendations including building the skills, knowledge and equipment base of affected governments and local authorities. Vulnerability mapping is urgently needed to pinpoint coastal sites where homes, hotels, factories and other infrastructure should be banned or restricted, says Toepfer. “The report underlines the importance of managing the reconstruction in an environmentally sensitive way. Buildings and other infrastructure need to be built in less vulnerable areas and to standards that will protect them and their inhabitants in the event of future tsunamis. This makes sense not only in respect to tsunamis but also with respect to storm surges, floods, hurricanes and other extreme weather events.” For instance, Sri Lanka, one of the countries hardest hit by the giant waves, has already decided to establish a ‘no build zone’ up to 200 metres from the mean high tide line. Apart from ‘no build’ or restricted building zones along the coast, government and local communities should also consider restoring mangrove forests and traditional forms of fish and shrimp farming. Simply reinstating intensive fish and shrimp aquaculture systems of the kind that have become economically popular in recent years may be a mistake, the report concludes. Lessons can also be learnt from the Pacific where tsunamis are more commonplace. For instance, the tourism industry, a vital revenue-generating sector of many of the affected countries’ economies, should take the lead in locating hotels and resorts in less wave- and flood-prone areas. “Hilo, Hawaii, after being damaged several times by tsunamis finally moved back all its structures to a less risky elevation and converted the foreshore area into playing fields, parks and other non-essential infrastructure,” the study says. Other measures that countries could consider is the establishment of a network of ‘safe haven’ emergency towers, where local populations can seek refuge for some length of time in the event of a disaster. These towers could be made multi-purpose, such as for village meeting halls, but their primary purpose would be to provide a safe haven within, say, a 100-metre radius. This is especially important in those villages where there is no high ground for quite a distance, and on low-lying islands, says the report. For instance, Bangladesh, a highly flood- and cyclone-prone nation, has developed community-based concrete towers stocked with provisions such as emergency water and food supplies for the affected people to shelter in. The design of the towers should also be given serious consideration. The tsunami levelled large numbers of traditionally built wooden homes. Many other structures were swept away as waves hit with the force of 1,000 tonnes. Interestingly, among the few buildings across the tsunami-ravaged zone that did survive were mosques, possibly because they generally have large open ground floors that allowed the waves to pass through. “Consideration should be given to ensuring that, for elevations below 10 metres above sea level, all public buildings are constructed with this open ‘flow-through’ ground floor design. There appears to be no readily available best practice building code for tsunamis, so one may need to be developed,” says the report. Replanting coastal forests is another proposal. Forests not only take the sting out of aggressive waves, they offer other benefits including incomes for local people. Trees are also ideal places where people can climb to avoid being washed away. “Bangladesh has planted thousands of trees along coastal strips, as many people have been saved in previous disasters by clinging to the tops of coconut trees,” the report adds. InfoChange News & Features, March 2005
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