Status of Mangroves in the Coastal Environment Changes: A Case Study after the Nias Earthquake, March 2005

Abstract

Sixteen years ago, a 9.3 Mw earthquake at the Andaman Islands, December 26, 2004, accompanied by tsunami events in the region of Aceh, caused tremendous losses, unprecedented for human life in coastal areas of Indonesia and neighboring countries. A few months later, on March 28, 2005, an 8.7 Mw earthquake occurred in Nias; hundreds of hectares of coral reefs ecosystem were lifted into the terrestrial. Many corals died of drought and collapsed by quake vibration. Similarly, most mangroves moved away from the shoreline due to uplifted land.

The study aims to monitor the progress of the coastal ecosystems, especially the adaptation of mangroves due to physical and ecological changes. The methods used in the research were analysis of Landsat imageries through the remote sensing technique and coastal profile measurements. Series of field researches done on Augustus 2005, December 2014, and December 2015.

The research results showed mangroves had moved away from the shoreline, most of them died due to drought, some survived and developed towards the new coastline.