The coral reefs miraculously regenerate after the tsunami

The scientific community is recording the rapid recovery of some of the coral reefs that had been destroyed during the Indian Ocean tsunami, four years ago.

Divers are replanting corals, off the coast of Aceh Indonesia.Photo: AP.

Previously, researchers feared that the leveling bands off Indonesia could take a decade to return to their former state. But New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) found evidence of the rapid growth of young coral in the worst-hit tsunami areas.

WCS spokesman said that coral reefs destroyed in the period before the December 26 tsunami tsunami were also recovering. The organization noted that some local fishing communities have accepted to abandon fishing practices that are harmful to natural life, even replanting corals in devastated areas.

"This is a great story about the resilience and resilience of the ecosystem," commented the Indonesian Marine Program coordinator of WCS. "These findings give us new insights into the process of coral restoration, which in turn helps manage coral reefs in dealing with climate change," he added.

Meanwhile, Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a reef expert from the University of Queensland, Australia, did not participate in the WCS study, assessing the findings is not surprising, since corals are resilient. typical if not affected by fishing and coastal development.

Hoegh-Guldberg said: "We are also witnessing similar things around the coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest coral reef system in northeastern Australia, which has experienced natural disasters. but intense but can quickly recover the old state ".

During the tsunami disaster in late 2004, countries around the Indian Ocean were heavily devastated and left some 230,000 people dead, mainly in Indonesia's Aceh province. People in Indonesia, Thailand, India and Sri Lanka yesterday organized a prayer for 4 years of the cataclysm.