The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami had major effects on coastal communities and ecosystems. An assessment of coastlines after the tsunami indicates that coastal vegetation such as mangroves and beach forests helped to provide protection and reduce effects on adjacent communities. In recent years, mangroves and other coastal vegetation have been cleared or degraded along many coastlines, increasing their vulnerability to storm and tsunami damage. Establishing or strengthening greenbelts of mangroves and other coastal forests may play a key role in reducing the effect of future extreme events.
This paper describes how remote sensing techniques were used to study the effect of mangroves and other woody coastal vegetation as a protective measure against the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Remote sensing made it possible to compare pre-and post-Tsunami images of large areas. A study site was selected based on medium resolution Landsat imagery and existing topographic maps. Selection criteria included substantial damages reported, presence of woody vegetated and non-vegetated shorelines, homogeneous bathymetry and good coverage of preand post-Tsunami satellite imagery. The Pichawaram mangrove, Tamil Nadu, India, matched these criteria. Pre-and post-Tsunami Ikonos and QuickBird images were compared through the visual interpretation of pre-Tsunami coastal vegetation and post-Tsunami damage. The results were validated in the field. The analysis showed that mangrove forests and coastal shelterbelts provided protection from the Tsunami. This was concluded from analysing the spatial distribution of damage relative to woody vegetation along the coast as well as transects detailing the amount of damage behind the coastline and the coastal woody vegetation.
This article critically examines claims that “local community” and “local/traditional knowledge” are vital contributions to safeguarding socio-economic stability and securing sustainable resource uses in times of stress. The empirical focus is on Central Vietnam, but the argument is relevant in a broader context. The article specifically questions approaches to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation that see “local community knowledge” as a vital means to achieving resilience in socio-ecological systems. We argue that rural villages in Central Vietnam are characterised by highly dynamic local actors who eagerly exploit new income opportunities arising both from internal and external sources. Although a wide range of knowledge is available about how to cope with adverse climate and environmental conditions, this knowledge is hardly “resilience” and “equilibrium” oriented. Rather, it is found to be anthropocentric, externally oriented, sometimes opportunistic, and ultimately oriented towards an urban lifestyle—traits that are strongly rewarded by the Vietnamese state. We conclude that, at present, local aspirations may not necessarily be part of the solution, but may form part of a social and political complex that exacerbates risk, particularly for weaker population segments. Instead, new and non-state actors should play a larger role.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.