Coral Reefs in Phuket

When the tsunami hit,it caused a"one-two punch."Firstly the tsunami wave rose while entering the shallow waters where the reefs grow and smashed into the corals,breaking and shattering them.Then when the wave hit it caused tremendous damage to the coral reefs that will take decades for them to recover.In addition when the waves tide came back into the ocean carrying wood,chemicals and so on once again the corals.Though only 8% of the reefs were affected,they still contained some of the most diverse organisms in the world,that won't be recovered for ages.As you can see in the picture below the coral has been completely ripped out of the ground and is all dull.

Thailand's reefs are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of people who catch fish or any other edible sea creature or work in the diving tourism industry.This caused a massive impact as jobs couldn't be done since fish fled to other parts of the ocean and divers couldn't explore any coral since there was no coral to see.

The coral reefs were assessed as either in good or very good condition has decreased from 34 percent in the early 1990's to 16 per cent just before the tsunami.The corals were already in bad condition since tourism had led to coral bleaching and more,meaning they were very soft and could easily break.Therefore when the tsunami hit the coral reefs broke easily since they were so fragile.Although they were fragile they naturally still acted like a barrier blunting the tsunami and its force.The tsunami also caused an immense decrease in tourists as they were scared about the natural disaster that had just killed thousands of innocent people, in addition Phuket is mostly visited because of its beautiful beaches and amazing coral reefs but with a disgusting beach and broken coral the tourists didn't see a reason to come back.Luckily now the corals have slowly repaired and the beaches have become better which has brought tourists back.