While the human element of the recent Asian tsunami disaster has reached almost incomprehensible proportions, many are also struggling to understand how an ocean wave can travel so far and wreak so much havoc.

In the first of a series of articles, AquaNews explains how tsunamis are generated, and why they are so destructive.

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The difference between a major earthquake and a minor tremor often depends on its location. And the location of the recent earthquake that triggered a deadly tsunami in the Indian Ocean came as no surprise to geologists, according to Anne Meltzer, a world-renowned seismologist at Lehigh University.

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The world's mangrove forests are home to a rich assortment of wildlife, but they also provide another crucial and oft-overlooked service to their ecosystem: they are natural buffers that shelter coastal communities and wildlife from the brunt of storms and waves.

Their function as coastal buffers - and the effects of their removal along long stretches of coastline in several countries - was dramatically illustrated in the aftermath of the tsunami that swept the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004.

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As aid organizations tend to overwhelming humanitarian needs in South Asia, scientists are assessing the damage to the area's corals.

Although it will be some time before a clear regional picture becomes available, experts conducting preliminary surveys are astonished by the destruction they are seeing - and in many places, not seeing.

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As coastal communities in South Asia struggle to rebuild after the December 26 tsunami, it is increasingly clear that those who made a living from the sea were among the hardest hit.

Not only did the tsunami have a dramatic impact on ocean ecosystems, but the loss of fishing boats - and in many cases, entire fleets - has crippled many communities whose activities centered around fishing.

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Cooperation intensifies between the Royal Thai Government and international agencies to speed the recovery of Thailand from the recent tsunami disaster.

A high-level joint subcommittee was established last week in a meeting chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister. It will coordinate efforts by the international community to support the people of Thailand in the post-tsunami rehabilitation of environment and livelihoods.

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The United Nations this week called for greater integration of environmental issues in disaster preparation and response at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan.

Environmental issues, as an integral part of disaster reduction plans, must be at the centre of all development activity, the head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said yesterday.

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Beyond the horrific loss of human life, the December 26 tsunami had enormous impacts on Indonesia's coastal environment, causing damage and loss to natural habitats and ecosystems functions. The economic cost to the environment has been estimated at $675 million.

This is according to a preliminary damage and loss assessment report carried out by the Government of Indonesia and the international donor community.

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