Official figures of human casualty in Indonesia from the Tsunami of 26th December 2004 are 164,891 people buried, 114,897 people missing and 412,438 people displaced. Nearly 211,000 houses were damaged, most of them completely. The Tsunami floods reached up to two kilometres inland and along rivers and estuaries, seawater went as far as six kilometres upstream. The total estimate of damages and losses is $4.45 billion, nearly 97 per cent of Aceh’s GDP. The impact on lives, families and communities was immense. The minimum costs of restoring environmental infrastructure are estimated at US$175 million that includes rehabilitating damaged ecosystems and rebuilding capacity for environmental management. Global response to call for relief operations for health, food and housing and recovery of livelihoods and further development was unprecedented. Hundreds of aid agencies both from abroad and within Indonesia poured into Aceh. Co-ordination was a challenge, information sharing was difficult. The Indonesian government set up a high level body BRR (Badan Rekonstruksi dan Rehabilitasi) to coordinate and channel the large amount of incoming assistance in different forms and amounts.
Tag: coastal area
Adaption of some leguminous trees for agroforestry use in the north coast of Colombia
Erythrina berteroana, E. fusca, E. poeppigiana, Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala, and Senna siamea [Cassia siamea] were grown for 15 months at two lowland sites in Columbia. Survival, height growth and biomass production (leaves + stems removed in pruning) were determined after 8 and 15 months; prunings removed after 8 months were broadcast over the plot after sampling. Nutrient uptake data are also reported (analysed from prunings). G. sepium and C. siamea performed best, with the other 4 species performing poorly.