NEW DELHI, Jan. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Deep-rooted, salt-resistant trees like mangroves and casuarinas, if planted along the coasts, can buffer the region from future tsunamis, Indo-Asian News Agency reported Sunday.

    According to tsunami experts who are meeting here, such trees would act as a bio-shield, breaking the wave's speed, while protecting coasts from cyclones, coastal storms and tsunamis.

    In addition, they would help in the formation of bio-villages where the local population would get timber and other raw materialfrom the trees, the scientists said.

    "Trees may not be able to help with the height of the tsunami, but a large number of them help reduce the wave velocity substantially. It is the speed that kills people," said Costa Synolakis, a professor in coastal engineering at the University ofSouth California.

    "When Papua New Guinea (in the Pacific Ocean) suffered a tsunami some years ago, all the buildings of the region were washed away, but the few casuarinas pine trees in the region stoodfirm," Synolakis said, on the sidelines of a two-day brainstormingsession to device a tsunami-warning system for the Indian Ocean region.

    The Dec. 26 tsunami killed more than 220,000 in over a dozen countries besides causing untold damage and misery to coastal population.

    Synolakis, who has been involved in designing inundation maps for tsunami-prone areas for 15 years, said bio-shields have been set up in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Japan.

    In addition, mangrove trees, if planted in shallow seas, couldact as potential spawning grounds for fish and prawns, with local communities being encouraged to develop artificial coral reefs to add to the scenic beauty of the coast.

    "This is a win-win situation," said U. Ashwathanarayana, formerconsultant with the United Nations Development Program. "Bio-shields have profound ecological and environmental benefits." Enditem