The role of coastal forests in the mitigation of tsunami impacts

The tsunami of 26 December 2004 was a major natural disaster, killing some 229 866 men, women and children and causing billions of dollars in damage (United Nations, 2007). With a moment magnitude, Mw, between 9.1 and 9.3, the earthquake that caused the tsunami was the largest in the last forty years and second largest in instrumental history (Bilham, 2005). Yet, the devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami (like most other tsunamis) could have been greatly reduced in many of the thirteen countries that were hit, particularly in those countries farther from the earthquake epicenter and subject to less massive tsunamis.