Healthy Corals fared best against Tsunami

Status report, released by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the CORDIO programme(Coral Reef Degradation in the Indian Ocean ), indicates that the healthy coral reefs were better able to withstand the force of the December 2004 Tsunami, and may have offered increased protection to adjacent coastal areas.“Reefs continually degraded by over-fishing, coral mining, dynamite fishing and land-based pollution are more susceptible to future natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, creating a vicious circle of reef destruction and huma suffering,” says Jerker Tamelander, IUCN-CORDIO Marine Coordinator for South Asia and one of the report’s authors.