United Nations Environment Programme (Indonesia)

Immediately following the 2004 tsunami, UN Environment worked with environmental authorities in Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Seychelles, Yemen and Somalia to conduct an environmental assessment of tsunami impacts and provide recommendations for reconstruction. Some of the key findings of the assessment, which were recorded in After the Tsunami: UNEP's Rapid Environmental Assessment Report, related to:

The need to rehabilitate coastal ecosystems, which provide a first line of defence against natural hazards;
Saltwater and wastewater contamination of soil and groundwater wells;
The threat of hazardous debris to public health;
The environmental consequences of damage to infrastructure, including industrial sites;
The impact of the tsunami on the populations' livelihoods; and
The over-stretching of environmental management capacities in the aftermath of the tsunami.