A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RECOVERY PROCESS OF COASTAL VEGETATION AFTER TSUNAMI: A GOOGLE EARTH TIME-SERIES REMOTE SENSING DATA
ABSTRACT: The recovery of land
cover/use after the disaster is sometimes disorderly, especially in developing
countries. It is necessary to continuously monitor the progress of land
cover/use recovery after disaster in order to sustain vegetation around
estuarine and coastal areas. The purpose of this study was to assess the
recovery progress of vegetation around estuarine and coastal areas after the Indian
Ocean tsunami using a simplified method which consisting Google Earth and
visual photo interpretation. Vegetation areas were able to be detected with
high accuracy (80%−100%) using simplified method which consisting Google Earth
and visual photo interpretation. We were able to show that all most of area
including mangrove forests recovered relatively smoothly. However, the area
which has a large vegetation areas have not enough recovered, which reached to
half or less than half compare with before tsunami. This may be significant in
affecting the role of the coastal ecosystem and bioshield. A large number of
small mangrove patches (less than 0.1 ha) were able to found around ponds, a
number that rapidly increased after the tsunami. Some site in 2013 was double
that in 2004. Fish farmers might have planted them for supplying nutrients to
ponds and maintain the water quality. Dozen years have passed since the 2004
tsunami, and it might be time to more focus on the recovery of large vegetation
area.
KEYWORDS: coastal management;
fish and shrimp cultivation; GIS; tree planting
Author: Mochamad Candra
Wirawan Arief, Akemi Itaya
Journal Code: jpkehutanangg170001
