Report from Sri Lanka
The following is a summary of a report from Dr. Jerker Tamelander, IUCN, Sri Lanka. Read the full report, Rapid Assessment of Tsunami Damage to Coral Reefs in Sri Lanka (PDF, 492 KB).
Summary
Dr. Tamelander and his colleagues have developed an assessment protocol which can be used widely, and initiated reef surveys in Sri Lanka as well as parts of India. Initial reports from the field suggest that damage was patchy, some areas suffered less damage than expected, but others were heavily impacted. Debris is on the reef. Weather conditions have imposed constraints on the assessment. The eastern side, parts of which were devastated by the tsunami has not yet been surveyed and needs surveying.
Immediate Needs
Our immediate needs include:
- funding to expand the surveys. At the moment we are working on reprogrammed funds for regular monitoring, which will only cover some sites. The area affected is huge and impact patchy, so broad surveys are needed.
- skilled trained field staff that can contribute to the assessments (and in some cases potentially lead assessment teams on the ground), provided they are self funded and/or we get the funds needed to expand surveys.
- someone to lead and coordinate reef cleanups, starting in Marine Protected Areas, in collaboration with the relevant government agencies and the private sector.
Read about regionwide cleanup and restoration needs.
