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Global Challenges

Reconstructing After the Tsunami

Aired February 19, 2005 - 19:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANNOUNCER: On GLOBAL CHALLENGES, stories from the tsunami zone; a galling problem, Sri Lanka's second biggest city tries to strike a balance between the immediate needs of the people and their long-term protection. Life or limb, an excruciating decision in Banda Aceh, but there is hope for those with the right connections. And Mangrove Man; he's as quiet and unassuming as the forests themselves with a resolve to protect the coastlines against the rage of the ocean and the recklessness of mankind.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to this special edition of GLOBAL CHALLENGES, coming to you from Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Of course, the terrible tsunami in this region dominated the headlines, but as time moves on the world's attention is shifting to other stories in other places, but we want to make a commitment on GLOBAL CHALLENGES to chart the long-term recovery in the region.

One of the places that was devastated by the tsunami is Galle, on the south coast of Sri Lanka. We're going to keep coming back here in the months ahead to see what's working and what's not.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): This is what happened to Galle on 26-December.

Most of the dead were women and children and it was their own family members who had to drag them out of the water.

The tsunami struck Sri Lanka's second largest city with such awesome force it lifted this 1,500 ton ship, almost as big as an entire city block, clean out of the water and onto this jetty.

For a week, the city's 100,000 residents didn't know what to do or where to go for help, but then slowly people started trying to take control of their lives.

(on camera): The people of Galle are fighting back. With so much destruction, everyone realizes reconstruction will take time, but help is at hand. Moved by the plight of people here, several countries are now sending their latest technology to improve living conditions.

(voice-over): U.S. Marines bring in this desalination plant. It instantly converts seawater into drinking water. The desalinated water is pumped into these large bags, placed on top of trucks. Marines then deliver the water to neighborhoods, where many can't wait to get a taste.

A short distance away, Austrian soldiers pump 100,000 liters of water from this lake every day. The water is then channeled into these large containers, where soldiers add red colored chlorine and charcoal to eradicate impurities and make it safe for human consumption.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had the mayor of Galle here tasting our water, and he said this water here is 10-times better than whatever water they had before.

BINDRA: Meanwhile, Sri Lankan authorities are working nonstop. These (UNINTELLIGIBLE) signal the launch of a new and more effective communications system linking all of Sri Lanka's coastal areas.

Better communication, says Galle senior superintendent of police, can warn authorities of any impending danger, so they can evacuate thousands under threat.

Superintendent De Silva (ph) says his top priority is the safety of citizens and says he'll work hard to implement a new law that prevents residents from rebuilding smashed homes within 100 meters of the sea.

The new law is unpopular in Galle. De Silva (ph) realizes the city's nerves are on edge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As senior police officer, we can't hurt them at the time of a crisis. They have been badly hurt, devastated. They are undergoing stress and trauma. So at the time of that, we should act very softly on them, but at the same time we must enforce the law.

BINDRA: Galle is one of Sri Lanka's biggest resorts, a city that provides the economy with much-needed tourist dollars. Officials work hard to repair miles of railway track that was either damaged or swept away.

A few miles away, Indian divers use sophisticated underwater cameras to check the structural integrity of several rail bridges. This one hasn't been damaged. Still, it may be months before train services resume and tourists return.

With no running trains, all that Galle station master can do is think of December 26, when he says entire trains were floating like toys on this platform.

Even with all it's been through, Galle is already looking and feeling very different. There is nothing more important for residents here than to forget what everyone calls the worst day of their lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

After the break, we're going to take you to Indonesia to see how some of the most severely injured victims of the tsunami are coping.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BINDRA: Welcome back.

The number of people killed in the tsunami is staggering. So too are the figures for those severely injured. In fact, in the days following December 26, another human tragedy unfolded.

CNN's Atika Shubert picks up that story from Indonesia.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Satinder, in those crucial first hours after the tsunami, many people with treatable wounds did not receive medical attention. The system was simply overwhelmed. The result: in too many cases, treatable wounds that became lifethreatening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): In the aftermath of the tsunami, this was an all too common site. Broken bones and gashes left untended for days and weeks now infected. Gangrene, septicemia, infections that kill, often amputation is the only option.

Amputations are a last resort, only done if the infection threatens the life of the patient, yet convincing patients to chose life over limb can often be difficult.

Dr. Emanuel Paz (ph) has seen too many cases like this in his makeshift clinic. A minor gash sustained in the tsunami now badly infected. Only a local anesthetic is available to this patient. His wife tries to prevent him from seeing his own amputation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Body mutilation is held against the belief of Islam or the Muslim belief. I think if you just level with them and make them understand that, you know, what the situation is, they're pretty understanding and accepting.

SHUBERT: Eight-year-old Deliza (ph) is among the youngest amputee victims. She was found unconscious in the mud, miles from home. The disaster killed everyone in her family save her father and older brother. Her father describes how he tried to care for her in the days after the tsunami.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): At first, it was just her lower leg. The skin was gone. The foot had to be amputated. At the time, there was still no aid, no food, no drinking water. Our home was destroyed, so after the surgery I took her to a camp to recover. That's where her leg got infected again. They had to amputate again, higher up.

SHUBERT: Dr. Finn Warberg (ph) is an orthopedic surgeon with the Danish Emergency Medical Team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is recovering well. Her amputation is nearly healed. And it's not a physical problem anymore. It is a training problem. It is a prosthesis fitting problem and it is also of course a mental problem.

SHUBERT: Deliza (ph) will need to learn how to use artificial limbs. For a growing girl, that could require a change of prosthetics every three months. Expensive care for a father who lost everything in the disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Of course I worry. Especially since she is a girl. I just don't know what the future holds for her. She seems upbeat. I just hope I have the strength.

SHUBERT: Deliza (ph) is too shy to talk, but her drawings say a lot. Earlier pictures of dark flood waters have been replaced with cheerful blue skies, perhaps the best indication that Deliza (ph) is well on her way to recovery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

So what hope is there for new amputees? Obtaining artificial limbs is both complicated and costly, but there are organizations that offer affordable prosthetics designed specifically for this region.

Ralitsa Vassileva profiles one such group in India.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Happiness is simple for 18-year-old Radama Urapa (ph). Just being able to walk, do the housework, fetch water from the well, and run after her goats. But nothing has come easily to her. An accident at the age of three robbed her of her leg from the knee down.

For the next 10 years, Radama (ph) grew up physically and emotionally isolated at home in the village of Bundahari (ph). Unable to play with the other children or even walk to school.

She says, "Earlier I was unable to wash clothes, unable to walk, unable to bring water. I was interested in talking, but unable to talk."

She says she was teased and battled low self-esteem, but she doesn't talk much about what she's been through, watching her small world go on around her, and there was little her parents could do to help. With seven girls to feed, providing one meal a day for the family consumed all of their energy.

It would be 10 years before an NGO fitted Radama (ph) with an artificial limb and she learned how to walk again, but it is an ongoing process.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like today, we came to see Radama (ph). Her prosthesis is loose. If we don't try to rectify that and if you face major problems (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

VASSILEVA: Rita Gosh (ph) works for Mobility India, which was founded in Bangalore about 10 years ago with funding from CVM, a British community fund. Its main purpose: to make artificial limbs more accessible.

(on camera): There are more than 1 million people in India like Radama (ph) in need of a prosthetic limb. Most of them live in poor rural areas, like this one. Only 5 percent of them actually get a limb, but getting a limb is simply not enough.

(voice-over): Radama (ph) is wearing the result of Mobility India's research, the socket (ph) prosthetic device, almost 10 times cheaper than a comparable Western one, it's made of light-weight plastic and it's easy to maintain in rural conditions. Unlike the conventional Indian prosthesis, only the part that goes wrong or doesn't fit right anymore needs to be replaced.

Ms. Gosh (ph) says it is very important to make sure the devices are easily maintained. Otherwise, they can become impossible to wear. This is especially important when it comes to children who can outgrow prosthesis like they do clothes, but live in poor remote villages with no facilities to make the necessary adjustments.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this situation, we don't need a very big infrastructure. In the villages, we don't have electricity. We have very little human resources. Trained personnel are not available to work (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

VASSILEVA: With no educated technicians in rural areas, mobility India trains villagers to do simple repairs. Whatever the locals can't handle is saved for the institutes mobile truck, which visits periodically.

For now, Ms. Gosh (ph) makes due with what she has brought in her bag to help Radama (ph) use her prosthesis until she gets it fixed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In ideal situations, we should change the socket (ph), in ideal situations. But there is no facility nearby available, so for the time being we have this backing so that it holds her limb and after sometime we need to change not the whole prosthesis, only the socket (ph).

VASSILEVA: A practical solution in a part of the world with few options, even before the tsunami struck.

Indeed, Mobility India is now looking for ways to help this new group of amputees, like Deliza (ph), who we saw earlier, in Banda Aceh, so that they too can follow in Radama's (ph) footsteps.

Ralitsa Vassileva, for GLOBAL CHALLENGES, Bundahari (ph), near Bangalore, India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Next on GLOBAL CHALLENGES, the environmental impact of the tsunami.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHUBERT: Welcome back.

The human toll here in Indonesia is so enormous it's hard to think about or care about the environmental damage, but one lesson learned is that nature plays not only a role as destroyer, but also protector.

Over now to Aneesh Raman, in Thailand.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Atika.

As you know, parts of Thailand's coast were badly hit by the tsunami. Thousands of lives were lost, and no wonder. You can see how exposed the beaches are, partly due to the rapid development of things like hotels, houses and shrimp farms.

But other parts of the coastlines have a natural buffer. Mangrove forests. These slumbering wonders are able to not only absorb some of the force of those tsunamis and cyclones, but they are barely populated, unlike the throngs attracted to the new development.

Now, here in southern Thailand, there has been a longtime champion of mangroves. Well-known in environmental circles, this soft-spoken man is now being heard further a field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Along the coastline of southern Thailand, the depleting resource towers over the water. These mangrove forests are the powerful gateway to the villages that lie behind.

Their beauty is not easily apparent, their essential role not easily understood. And their survival is in doubt, a plight that has defined the life of 62-year-old Pisit Chancinow (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) land like this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and decided (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it is tougher to replant it.

RAMAN: The soft-spoken conservationist spends his days on the frontlines of this struggle, keenly aware that what takes minutes to destroy can have generational impact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mangrove forest in many countries have deteriorated in Southeast Asia. That's much damage in the past 30 years. In Thailand alone, about 50 percent of the mangrove forest has gone.

RAMAN: It was back in 1985 that Pisit (ph) and his wife founded the nonprofit Yudfun (ph) association. Their goal was to protect mangroves not through government policy but by educating local communities.

It has since become a global example of grassroots success, with numerous awards to his name, all inconsequential to his real focus.

Walking through the forest with Pisit (ph) requires incessant stops. His knowledge of mangroves is as inspiring as it is endless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mangrove forests come from the sea, and a sea without mangrove forests, particularly in tropical region, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Because the mangrove forest is a feeding ground for the small marine animals.

RAMAN: Like the man himself, the trees Pisit (ph) embodies are quietly powerful. Not simply lumber, but entire ecosystems. Famous for their labyrinth of formidable roots, mangroves protect coastlines from erosion and filter water before it reaches coral reefs and sea grass.

They're also conduits of life, breeding grounds for small marine animals and feed areas for larger ones. In short, mangrove forests are some of the world's most productive and diverse wetlands, vital not just for the environment but for anyone living close by.

And recent events have showcased a more urgent implication. In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, mangroves were identified as an impressive line of defense, their sheet density mitigating the deadly force of the tsunami waves, saving lives and livelihoods.

Indonesia already plans to grow mangrove forests along some 600,000 hectares of vulnerable coastline, but for Pisit (ph), while the newfound interest is welcome, it must not miss the point, that mangroves are not just for protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to work with the local people to discuss, to encourage them to understand how to utilize, how to restore, how to live in harmony with the environment.

RAMAN (on camera): Pisit's (ph) passion for this cause is infectious, and it's a big reason why he's been so successful, whether here teaching children how to plant mangroves or dealing with lifelong fisherman, it is all part of his bottom-up philosophy to grassroots organizing.

(voice-over): His efforts are contained to a few dozen villages in southern Thailand, but their lessons global. The majority of each day is spent making locals understand that while they may lose money at first fishing with eco-friendly practices, they will sustain their way of life for generations to come.

Whether teaching children what mangroves provide, or teaching their parents how to find the right soil for the right plants, it's a hard sell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more I work with the local people about the conservation of the mangrove forest, the more I want to see it.

RAMAN: It is beyond Pisit's (ph) reach to ensure that mangroves stand tall worldwide, safeguarding and empowering local communities. The future of what is in his reach, though, is firmly in mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm thinking about the next 10 years, what is happening in this area. I imagine that there are many big trees growing. I imagine that there are many crabs, many clams, living in this area. I imagine that there are many young people who can come and collect those crabs, fish for earning their living, for their income.

RAMAN: A vision so vivid and a passion so powerful, there seems little doubt it will happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

That's all we have time for now, but remember, we'll have more tsunami-related stories on GLOBAL CHALLENGES in the months to come.

I'm Aneesh Raman. See you next time.

END

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Aired February 19, 2005 - 19:30:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: On GLOBAL CHALLENGES, stories from the tsunami zone; a galling problem, Sri Lanka's second biggest city tries to strike a balance between the immediate needs of the people and their long-term protection. Life or limb, an excruciating decision in Banda Aceh, but there is hope for those with the right connections. And Mangrove Man; he's as quiet and unassuming as the forests themselves with a resolve to protect the coastlines against the rage of the ocean and the recklessness of mankind.
SATINDER BINDRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to this special edition of GLOBAL CHALLENGES, coming to you from Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

Of course, the terrible tsunami in this region dominated the headlines, but as time moves on the world's attention is shifting to other stories in other places, but we want to make a commitment on GLOBAL CHALLENGES to chart the long-term recovery in the region.

One of the places that was devastated by the tsunami is Galle, on the south coast of Sri Lanka. We're going to keep coming back here in the months ahead to see what's working and what's not.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): This is what happened to Galle on 26-December.

Most of the dead were women and children and it was their own family members who had to drag them out of the water.

The tsunami struck Sri Lanka's second largest city with such awesome force it lifted this 1,500 ton ship, almost as big as an entire city block, clean out of the water and onto this jetty.

For a week, the city's 100,000 residents didn't know what to do or where to go for help, but then slowly people started trying to take control of their lives.

(on camera): The people of Galle are fighting back. With so much destruction, everyone realizes reconstruction will take time, but help is at hand. Moved by the plight of people here, several countries are now sending their latest technology to improve living conditions.

(voice-over): U.S. Marines bring in this desalination plant. It instantly converts seawater into drinking water. The desalinated water is pumped into these large bags, placed on top of trucks. Marines then deliver the water to neighborhoods, where many can't wait to get a taste.

A short distance away, Austrian soldiers pump 100,000 liters of water from this lake every day. The water is then channeled into these large containers, where soldiers add red colored chlorine and charcoal to eradicate impurities and make it safe for human consumption.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had the mayor of Galle here tasting our water, and he said this water here is 10-times better than whatever water they had before.

BINDRA: Meanwhile, Sri Lankan authorities are working nonstop. These (UNINTELLIGIBLE) signal the launch of a new and more effective communications system linking all of Sri Lanka's coastal areas.

Better communication, says Galle senior superintendent of police, can warn authorities of any impending danger, so they can evacuate thousands under threat.

Superintendent De Silva (ph) says his top priority is the safety of citizens and says he'll work hard to implement a new law that prevents residents from rebuilding smashed homes within 100 meters of the sea.

The new law is unpopular in Galle. De Silva (ph) realizes the city's nerves are on edge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As senior police officer, we can't hurt them at the time of a crisis. They have been badly hurt, devastated. They are undergoing stress and trauma. So at the time of that, we should act very softly on them, but at the same time we must enforce the law.

BINDRA: Galle is one of Sri Lanka's biggest resorts, a city that provides the economy with much-needed tourist dollars. Officials work hard to repair miles of railway track that was either damaged or swept away.

A few miles away, Indian divers use sophisticated underwater cameras to check the structural integrity of several rail bridges. This one hasn't been damaged. Still, it may be months before train services resume and tourists return.

With no running trains, all that Galle station master can do is think of December 26, when he says entire trains were floating like toys on this platform.

Even with all it's been through, Galle is already looking and feeling very different. There is nothing more important for residents here than to forget what everyone calls the worst day of their lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

After the break, we're going to take you to Indonesia to see how some of the most severely injured victims of the tsunami are coping.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BINDRA: Welcome back.

The number of people killed in the tsunami is staggering. So too are the figures for those severely injured. In fact, in the days following December 26, another human tragedy unfolded.

CNN's Atika Shubert picks up that story from Indonesia.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Satinder, in those crucial first hours after the tsunami, many people with treatable wounds did not receive medical attention. The system was simply overwhelmed. The result: in too many cases, treatable wounds that became lifethreatening.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): In the aftermath of the tsunami, this was an all too common site. Broken bones and gashes left untended for days and weeks now infected. Gangrene, septicemia, infections that kill, often amputation is the only option.

Amputations are a last resort, only done if the infection threatens the life of the patient, yet convincing patients to chose life over limb can often be difficult.

Dr. Emanuel Paz (ph) has seen too many cases like this in his makeshift clinic. A minor gash sustained in the tsunami now badly infected. Only a local anesthetic is available to this patient. His wife tries to prevent him from seeing his own amputation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Body mutilation is held against the belief of Islam or the Muslim belief. I think if you just level with them and make them understand that, you know, what the situation is, they're pretty understanding and accepting.

SHUBERT: Eight-year-old Deliza (ph) is among the youngest amputee victims. She was found unconscious in the mud, miles from home. The disaster killed everyone in her family save her father and older brother. Her father describes how he tried to care for her in the days after the tsunami.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): At first, it was just her lower leg. The skin was gone. The foot had to be amputated. At the time, there was still no aid, no food, no drinking water. Our home was destroyed, so after the surgery I took her to a camp to recover. That's where her leg got infected again. They had to amputate again, higher up.

SHUBERT: Dr. Finn Warberg (ph) is an orthopedic surgeon with the Danish Emergency Medical Team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is recovering well. Her amputation is nearly healed. And it's not a physical problem anymore. It is a training problem. It is a prosthesis fitting problem and it is also of course a mental problem.

SHUBERT: Deliza (ph) will need to learn how to use artificial limbs. For a growing girl, that could require a change of prosthetics every three months. Expensive care for a father who lost everything in the disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Of course I worry. Especially since she is a girl. I just don't know what the future holds for her. She seems upbeat. I just hope I have the strength.

SHUBERT: Deliza (ph) is too shy to talk, but her drawings say a lot. Earlier pictures of dark flood waters have been replaced with cheerful blue skies, perhaps the best indication that Deliza (ph) is well on her way to recovery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

So what hope is there for new amputees? Obtaining artificial limbs is both complicated and costly, but there are organizations that offer affordable prosthetics designed specifically for this region.

Ralitsa Vassileva profiles one such group in India.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RALITSA VASSILEVA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Happiness is simple for 18-year-old Radama Urapa (ph). Just being able to walk, do the housework, fetch water from the well, and run after her goats. But nothing has come easily to her. An accident at the age of three robbed her of her leg from the knee down.

For the next 10 years, Radama (ph) grew up physically and emotionally isolated at home in the village of Bundahari (ph). Unable to play with the other children or even walk to school.

She says, "Earlier I was unable to wash clothes, unable to walk, unable to bring water. I was interested in talking, but unable to talk."

She says she was teased and battled low self-esteem, but she doesn't talk much about what she's been through, watching her small world go on around her, and there was little her parents could do to help. With seven girls to feed, providing one meal a day for the family consumed all of their energy.

It would be 10 years before an NGO fitted Radama (ph) with an artificial limb and she learned how to walk again, but it is an ongoing process.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like today, we came to see Radama (ph). Her prosthesis is loose. If we don't try to rectify that and if you face major problems (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

VASSILEVA: Rita Gosh (ph) works for Mobility India, which was founded in Bangalore about 10 years ago with funding from CVM, a British community fund. Its main purpose: to make artificial limbs more accessible.

(on camera): There are more than 1 million people in India like Radama (ph) in need of a prosthetic limb. Most of them live in poor rural areas, like this one. Only 5 percent of them actually get a limb, but getting a limb is simply not enough.

(voice-over): Radama (ph) is wearing the result of Mobility India's research, the socket (ph) prosthetic device, almost 10 times cheaper than a comparable Western one, it's made of light-weight plastic and it's easy to maintain in rural conditions. Unlike the conventional Indian prosthesis, only the part that goes wrong or doesn't fit right anymore needs to be replaced.

Ms. Gosh (ph) says it is very important to make sure the devices are easily maintained. Otherwise, they can become impossible to wear. This is especially important when it comes to children who can outgrow prosthesis like they do clothes, but live in poor remote villages with no facilities to make the necessary adjustments.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this situation, we don't need a very big infrastructure. In the villages, we don't have electricity. We have very little human resources. Trained personnel are not available to work (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

VASSILEVA: With no educated technicians in rural areas, mobility India trains villagers to do simple repairs. Whatever the locals can't handle is saved for the institutes mobile truck, which visits periodically.

For now, Ms. Gosh (ph) makes due with what she has brought in her bag to help Radama (ph) use her prosthesis until she gets it fixed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In ideal situations, we should change the socket (ph), in ideal situations. But there is no facility nearby available, so for the time being we have this backing so that it holds her limb and after sometime we need to change not the whole prosthesis, only the socket (ph).

VASSILEVA: A practical solution in a part of the world with few options, even before the tsunami struck.

Indeed, Mobility India is now looking for ways to help this new group of amputees, like Deliza (ph), who we saw earlier, in Banda Aceh, so that they too can follow in Radama's (ph) footsteps.

Ralitsa Vassileva, for GLOBAL CHALLENGES, Bundahari (ph), near Bangalore, India.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: Next on GLOBAL CHALLENGES, the environmental impact of the tsunami.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHUBERT: Welcome back.

The human toll here in Indonesia is so enormous it's hard to think about or care about the environmental damage, but one lesson learned is that nature plays not only a role as destroyer, but also protector.

Over now to Aneesh Raman, in Thailand.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Atika.

As you know, parts of Thailand's coast were badly hit by the tsunami. Thousands of lives were lost, and no wonder. You can see how exposed the beaches are, partly due to the rapid development of things like hotels, houses and shrimp farms.

But other parts of the coastlines have a natural buffer. Mangrove forests. These slumbering wonders are able to not only absorb some of the force of those tsunamis and cyclones, but they are barely populated, unlike the throngs attracted to the new development.

Now, here in southern Thailand, there has been a longtime champion of mangroves. Well-known in environmental circles, this soft-spoken man is now being heard further a field.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Along the coastline of southern Thailand, the depleting resource towers over the water. These mangrove forests are the powerful gateway to the villages that lie behind.

Their beauty is not easily apparent, their essential role not easily understood. And their survival is in doubt, a plight that has defined the life of 62-year-old Pisit Chancinow (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we have (UNINTELLIGIBLE) land like this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) and decided (UNINTELLIGIBLE) it is tougher to replant it.

RAMAN: The soft-spoken conservationist spends his days on the frontlines of this struggle, keenly aware that what takes minutes to destroy can have generational impact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mangrove forest in many countries have deteriorated in Southeast Asia. That's much damage in the past 30 years. In Thailand alone, about 50 percent of the mangrove forest has gone.

RAMAN: It was back in 1985 that Pisit (ph) and his wife founded the nonprofit Yudfun (ph) association. Their goal was to protect mangroves not through government policy but by educating local communities.

It has since become a global example of grassroots success, with numerous awards to his name, all inconsequential to his real focus.

Walking through the forest with Pisit (ph) requires incessant stops. His knowledge of mangroves is as inspiring as it is endless.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The mangrove forests come from the sea, and a sea without mangrove forests, particularly in tropical region, (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Because the mangrove forest is a feeding ground for the small marine animals.

RAMAN: Like the man himself, the trees Pisit (ph) embodies are quietly powerful. Not simply lumber, but entire ecosystems. Famous for their labyrinth of formidable roots, mangroves protect coastlines from erosion and filter water before it reaches coral reefs and sea grass.

They're also conduits of life, breeding grounds for small marine animals and feed areas for larger ones. In short, mangrove forests are some of the world's most productive and diverse wetlands, vital not just for the environment but for anyone living close by.

And recent events have showcased a more urgent implication. In the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, mangroves were identified as an impressive line of defense, their sheet density mitigating the deadly force of the tsunami waves, saving lives and livelihoods.

Indonesia already plans to grow mangrove forests along some 600,000 hectares of vulnerable coastline, but for Pisit (ph), while the newfound interest is welcome, it must not miss the point, that mangroves are not just for protection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to work with the local people to discuss, to encourage them to understand how to utilize, how to restore, how to live in harmony with the environment.

RAMAN (on camera): Pisit's (ph) passion for this cause is infectious, and it's a big reason why he's been so successful, whether here teaching children how to plant mangroves or dealing with lifelong fisherman, it is all part of his bottom-up philosophy to grassroots organizing.

(voice-over): His efforts are contained to a few dozen villages in southern Thailand, but their lessons global. The majority of each day is spent making locals understand that while they may lose money at first fishing with eco-friendly practices, they will sustain their way of life for generations to come.

Whether teaching children what mangroves provide, or teaching their parents how to find the right soil for the right plants, it's a hard sell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The more I work with the local people about the conservation of the mangrove forest, the more I want to see it.

RAMAN: It is beyond Pisit's (ph) reach to ensure that mangroves stand tall worldwide, safeguarding and empowering local communities. The future of what is in his reach, though, is firmly in mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm thinking about the next 10 years, what is happening in this area. I imagine that there are many big trees growing. I imagine that there are many crabs, many clams, living in this area. I imagine that there are many young people who can come and collect those crabs, fish for earning their living, for their income.

RAMAN: A vision so vivid and a passion so powerful, there seems little doubt it will happen.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

That's all we have time for now, but remember, we'll have more tsunami-related stories on GLOBAL CHALLENGES in the months to come.

I'm Aneesh Raman. See you next time.

END

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