Maldives hit by Tsunami

An unprecedented and devastating tsunami struck the Maldives on 26 December 2004 at around 9.28 am, triggered by an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 on Richter scale off the west coast of Sumatra in the Indonesian Archipelago. Maldives, with a population of 300,000 people living on 200 inhabited islands are a group of 1200 coral islands spread across north to south off the west coast of India. The tiny islands, on average are about 1 meter above sea level. The tsunami affected almost a third of the country directly affecting 100,000 people. Tourism and Fishing are the main industries. A number of tourist resorts were damaged by the tsumani and a number of fishing boats were destroyed disrupting the livelihoods of the people. Many inhabited islands were evacuated, in some cases almost all houses flattened. The level of flooding varies from 3 meters to 0.5 meters, most islands on a north to south direction on the east coast of the atolls were badly affected. The death toll stood at 108 and includes 26 missing. Groundwater in almost all the affected islands are salty, the few fruit bearing trees such as mangoes, breadfruit, papaya, guava and bananas were badly affected. Many crops and plantations on the agricultural islands were also destroyed.

Kandolhudhoo, a famous fishing community of 3,500 people in Raa Atoll was "uninhabitable'' after being completely devastated. The mosque and the school were the only standing structures. Residents were evacuated to nearby islands in the atoll. Permanent housing for this community is being planned in an uninhabited island close to the atoll capital.

Vilufushi, also a fishing island was almost levelled and was evacuated. Madifushi of the same atoll also sustained heavy damage from the tsunami. Kolhufushi, in Meemu atoll too was levelled affecting 1200 people. The islanders took shelter in boats and in the school compound. The government is now providing temporary shelter to the residents taking refuge in schools and tents and is planning to provide permanent housing to the residents under the "safe island" concept.

More than 10,000 people are displaced in 13 islands from 6 atolls in the hardest hit areas. 60% sustained flooding with moderate damage in 121 islands while 56 islands or 28% had high impact with major physical damage. 13 islands had very high impacat and total destruction accounting to 7% while 5% reported no flooding.

Relief efforts are focusing on establishing communications with outer atolls and providing basic supplies to thousands of people who lack drinking water, food, medicines, clothing and restoring electric power.

Please visit http://maldives.00freehost.com for information on atolls of Maldives OR http://maldives.00freehost.com/zoommaldives/ for a zoomable map of Maldives.

Updated 19 January 2005