Park in Vancouver, British Columbia. The seawall was constructed initially as waves created by ships passing through the First Narrows were eroding the area between Prospect Point and Brockton Point. Construction of the seawall began in 1917, and since then this pathway has become one of the most used features of the park by both locals and tourists and now extends 22 km in total. The construction of the seawall also provided employment for relief workers during the Great Depression and seamen from on Deadman's Island who were facing punishment detail in the 1950s (Steele, 1985). Overall, the Vancouver Seawall is a prime example of how seawalls can simultaneously provide shoreline protection and a source of recreation which enhances human enjoyment of the coastal environment. It also illustrates that although shoreline erosion is a natural process, human activities, interactions with the coast and poorly planned shoreline development projects can accelerate natural erosion rates. India On December 26, 2004, towering waves of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake tsunami crashed against India's south-eastern coastline killing thousands. However, the former French colonial enclave of Pondicherry escaped unscathed. This was primarily due to French engineers who had constructed (and maintained) a massive stone seawall during the time when the city was a French colony. This 300-year-old seawall effectively kept Pondicherry's historic center dry even though tsunami waves drove water above the normal high-tide mark. The barrier was initially completed in 1735 and over the years, the French continued to fortify the wall, piling huge boulders along its coastline to stop erosion from the waves pounding the harbor. At its highest, the barrier running along the water's edge reaches about above sea level. The boulders, some weighing up to a ton, are weathered black and brown. The seawall is inspected every year and whenever gaps appear or the stones sink into the sand, the government adds more boulders to keep it strong. The Union Territory of Pondicherry recorded around 600 deaths from the huge tsunami waves that struck India's coast after the mammoth underwater earthquake (which measured 9.0 on the moment magnitude scale) off Indonesia, but most of those killed were fishermen who lived in villages beyond the artificial barrier which reinforces the effectiveness of seawalls. Japan At least 43 percent of Japan's coastline is lined with concrete seawalls or other structures designed to protect the country against high waves, typhoons or even tsunamis. During