The fate of coral reefs in the Andaman Sea, eastern Indian Ocean following the Sumatran earthquake and tsunami, 26 December 2004.

Publication: The Geographical Journal

Publication Date: 01-DEC-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Royal Geographical Society

The Sumatran-Andaman earthquake was the second largest earthquake in the instrumental record, with shifts in the sea floor displacing more than 30 [km.sup.3] of seawater and generating a tsunami that was recorded worldwide (Bilham 2005). The scale of the resultant human tragedy and damage to coastal infrastructure was almost incomprehensible and is it was not surprising that many scientists anticipated extensive damage to coral reefs along affected coastlines in the Andaman Sea. It is perhaps noteworthy that since 1833 over 35 tsunamis have been recorded around the neigh-bouring Indonesian archipelago (Carey et al. 2001), which is home to the most diverse coral reefs in the world, but there is no reference to tsunami-related damage on coral reefs in the scientific literature. This brief account summarizes the effects of the earthquake and the tsunami on coral reefs in the Andaman Sea region in the eastern Indian Ocean as far as they are known at present.

Fringing reefs dominate the coastlines of the Andaman Sea, being very well developed on the northern tip of Sumatra, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar, and the west coast of Thailand and northern Malaysia. While the reefs of north Sumatra, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Mergui are poorly documented, those of Thailand and Malaysia have been relatively well studied. The region is well known for its extensive shallow reef flats that extend up 200-500 m from the shore, particularly in the Nicobar Islands. Living coral generally extends from the shoreline to the reef edge with reef flats in sheltered locations being dominated by massive species (mainly...

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