The Sumatra Earthquake and the Indonesia Tsunami that followed proved to be one of the works natural disasters from Mother Nature in our present period and killed over 200,000 people. Billions of dollars of aid funneled into the area to mop and help victims; now that the major cleanup is done what about the environment? Regarding possible environmental fixes to insure security of the Tsunami ravaged areas, perhaps these solutions after post Hurricane Katrina may offer some insight; http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=1134 http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=1120 It appears to me the most important thing for human environments is fresh water (filtration) and good sewer treatment to prevent contamination. Additionally as civilizations progress; tree replanting, clean power generation and special care of animal waste. Those are the biggies. Any system built must be simple to make, use and extremely low maintenance. Many of the "Engineers Without Border" groups have gone to small villages in many parts of the world; http://www.ewb-international.org/ to build such simple water systems, help with solar power and wind generation systems, as well as secure proper run-off and separations of various waste. There are ways to insure restoration of the ecosystem and to provide environmental security for the future of the region, but only if we act. Otherwise, it will take decades until Mother Nature can fix the problem and that will he be possible if all the people leave. Consider this in 2006. |