In planning the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts after the tsunami that hit South-
East Asia on December 26th, 2004, many countries gave a high priority to the re-establishment
of natural barriers against tsunamis and other ocean surges, focusing interest on the potential
for mangroves to act as such barriers (DAHDOUH-GUEBAS et al., 2005b; DANIELSEN et al.,
2005; LIU et al., 2005).