KOLHUFUSHI, Maldives (11 Jan 2005) -- Some parts of the Maldives were so severely lashed by last month's tsunami that the government says the map of the paradise cluster of nearly 1,200 tiny islands literally needs to be redrawn. If the view from a low-flying seaplane is anything to go by, it is easy to see why. A sweep over the large Hakuraa Club Resort in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean island chain reveals how waves have torn into the centre of the crescent shaped island and sucked out tonnes of sand. The roof of a beach bungalow floats oddly intact near Medhufushi Resort, surrounded by wood that used to be the rest of the building. All over the eastern fringe of the Meemu atoll, palm trees bob about in clear waters like dead centipedes in a giant bath. Some are still rooted to what was dry land before the tsunami struck two weeks ago but is now underwater, more than 30 metres (100 feet) out to sea. Most of the low-lying Maldives escaped the full fury of the tsunami -- triggered by an earthquake off Sumatra -- because the landmass was too small for the waves to crest on. But without the protection of reefs, the southeastern stretch of atolls famed for some of the world's best scuba diving took a direct hit, with waves as high as 12 feet packing enough power to batter islands into new shapes and in some cases wipe them off the map all together. "The tsunami changed the map of the Maldives so much that we need to commission a new survey of the country," said Mohamed Shareef, an environmental expert who works for President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's communications unit. United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew over some of the stricken areas on Monday to assess the extent of the damage. With about 80 dead, the Maldives escaped the staggering death tolls seen in hardest-hit Indonesia and Sri Lanka -- which between them account for more than 85 percent of the tsunami's 156,000 victims. But the tourist magnet archipelago, which offers some of the world's most expensive holiday accommodation, argues it has suffered proportionally more economic damage than any other tsunami-hit nation. The nation of 300,000 mostly Sunni Muslims says the disaster has set its development back 20 years and wants a $1.3 billion (693 million pounds) aid package to finance recovery -- about twice the annual Gross Domestic Product. | | Thanks to geography and effective planning, the Maldives was spared the full destructive force of the tsunami. As children waiting for their school to reopen played on the beach on Monday, Annan's seaplane taxied alongside Kolhufushi island, which bore the brunt of the ocean's assault on the Maldives. Kolhufushi lost at least 10 of its 870 residents to the wall of water that swept ashore the day after Christmas. Six others are still missing. Musa Jameel remembers having to clamber onto his roof to get out of the way of the first wave that tore through the island's main street. "There were two girls being spun along at the top of the wave. One reached out and managed to grab a tree, the other was just swept to sea," said Jameel, his voice breaking at the memory. Dozens of houses were flattened, though many others remained standing. Flies swarmed around a cess pit gouged out of the ground. In one compound, all the houses made with a traditional blend of coral and mortar collapsed, but a satellite dish stood firm. "New technology," said Hassan Zareer, the translator at the local health office. "We have to start life all over again." SOURCE - Reuters |
