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Illegal removal of coral(珊瑚)along Sri Lanka’s coastline increased the amount of destruction on the island by last December’s tsunami, say researchers．
Harindra Fernando, a fluid dynamicist(力學(xué)家)at Arizona State University in Tempe, made the connection after a visit to his native Sri Lanka earlier this year．While serving as a scientific expert and translator for a BBC-documentary team, he chatted with locals who said they saw the tsunami turn sideways when it hit coral－which would have made it less powerful than in coral-free areas．Fernando linked this to trucks he had seen last year carrying piles of coral away from the sea．
Using the eyewitness reports, estimates(估算)of wave heights, and a series of divers to check the presence or absence of corals, Fernando and his colleagues produced a map of coral gaps and wave flooding along Sri Lanka’s southwest coast．
The tsunami reached significantly farther inland through the gaps：in one instance, the water traveled 1.5 kilometres long and knocked a passenger train off its tracks, killing 1,700．But only a few kilometers away, where the coral was still undamaged, the wave travelled just 50 metres inland and caused no deaths．
There is a similar phenomenon．In Nicaragua in 1992, a tsunami poured through a break in the coral reef made to let boats through．“Within this passage, water went one kilometre inland,”says Fernando．“But nearby, where the coral was undamaged, there were still beach umbrellas standing．”
In Sri Lanka, coral is illegally mined to provide souvenirs for tourists, or to be used in house paint．Coral harvesters sometimes blow it up with dynamite(炸藥)in order to collect fish at the same time．Often, the reefs in the best shape are those in front of hotels, as the hotel owners maintain them for the tourists．Fernando hopes that his findings will encourage the Sri Lankan government to enforce(實施)its laws against coral mining．
