Contamination of soil and water after tsunami

Salination of water bodies such as rivers, wells, inland lakes, and groundwater aquifers will be a major problem that the Japanese will face. This will also have a major impact on soil fertility of agricultural lands, due to salination and debris contamination, which will affect yields in the medium and long term. Learning from the 2004 tsunami, many water bodies were contamination by damaged or destroyed septic tanks and toilets, with sewage infiltrating the water supply system.
In the 2004 tsunami, UNEP reported extensive damage to environmental infrastructure, buildings and industrial sites. These include water and sanitation systems, solid waste disposal sites and waste treatment centers, particularly in urban areas (Maldives, Sri Lanka and Indonesia). Oil storage facilities released oil and wastes into the environment, which were not handled properly during the initial clean-up (Maldives and Indonesia).