Environmental Degradation Increased Tsunami's Power

Yahoo had a really interesting article up on their top headlines for a few moments earlier today about the effects the dredging of coastal areas and the destruction of mangrove swamps had on the tsunami. Mangroves especially blunt the fury of incoming waves, and a good many have been cleared out to make room for shrimp farms. It almost goes without saying that most of said shrimp makes its way to European and North American markets. That doesn't mean it's our fault, and even with the swamps in place this probably would've been a terrible disaster, but overdevelopment only made it worse.