Throughout the Indian Ocean, healthy coral reefs were better able to withstand the force of the December 2004 tsunami, and may have offered increased protection to adjacent coastal areas, reveals the 2005 Coral Reef Degradation in the Indian Ocean (CORDIO) Status Report, released by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the CORDIO programme.
On the other side of the coin, reefs weakened by overexploitation or bleaching suffered disproportionately during the tsunami and their recovery has been much slower since, the publication says.
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