Tsunami: A Year Later

As the first anniversary of the December 26 Tsunami approaches, officials from the U.N. Environment Programme and elsewhere are taking stock of what remains a terrible situation. Among the most daunting problems are lack of wastewater treatment and mind-boggling amounts of waste and debris to contend with. To put the problem in context, the U.N. says the Sept. 11 attacks generated 42 million cubic feet of waste, while Sri Lanka alone was saddled with more than twice that much -- some 95 million cubic feet, much of which wound up in waterways and wetlands. But experts stress that the destructive impact of humanity has been far worse than the tidal wave itself: The tsunami only exacerbated the problems.