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One of the emerging lessons of the earthquake-tsunami disaster is that mangroves and coral reefs are vital barriers that can prevent or at least soften the damage caused by tsunamis and high tidal waves.

A tsunami (Japanese: 津波 [tsɯnami], lit. 'harbor wave';[1] English pronunciation: /suːˈnɑːmi/ soo-NAH-mee) or tidal wave is a series of water waves (called a tsunami wave train[2]) caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, usually an ocean, but can occur in large lakes.

Many early geological, geographical, and oceanographic texts refer to tsunamis as "seismic sea waves."