Maldives and the Tsunami Experience

A.S.I.Moosa (Sappe’), Dhivehi Observer, 30 March 2005

Naturally, last night was a very daunting night for most Maldives as it was for the peoples of the whole of the Indian Ocean region. People have just begun to get on with their lives after the devastating tsunami of last December, which brought untold devastation and death to a the people of the Indian Ocean region.

When the news broke out of another large underwater earthquake around the same area followed by a cautionary warning to be on alert for tsunami, it was just too much to believe.

Maldives is the flattest country in the world and the highest natural elevation in the country is barely a metre above sea level. Most inhabited island do not measure more than a kilometre in width and length. Naturally, in Thailand the authorities could advise the public to move to higher grounds or even relocate them. In Maldives there are no higher grounds. In Sri Lanka the authorities asked people to move away inland at least 2 kilometres from the beach line. In Maldives the majority of the inhabited islands are too small in land mass to do that. So, naturally we are the most vulnerable and the most exposed to a tsunami or even a tidal wave.

The people of Male’ are grateful to the people of Japan for protecting Male’ with the artificial tetrapod barrier reef that encircles the capital. The result of this protection was obvious when Male’ was hit by the December ’04 tsunami. In comparison to other remote inhabited islands and resorts, the damage on Male’ was minimal. However, the seafront areas were severely flooded damaging the sheet piled edges and also several goods and properties. In complete contrast, some islands like Kandholhudhoo and Gemendho were completely submerged because the tsunami basically flushed everything in the island causing death and destruction as never experienced before.

The devastation of the last tsunami is still fresh in the minds of the people. So, as soon as there was the threat or warning of a possible tsunami wave everyone took precautionary measures to minimise the impact on their lives and livelihoods. In capital Male’ most people tried to protect their goods and properties. In the islands, people just tried to protect their lives.

The shops in the Marine Drive of Male’ and in South Harbour area inflicted heavy losses and damages in the December tsunami and hence this time as soon as the warning was received they went on blocking the shops and removing goods to in land locations and storerooms. Whilst in the islands most people boarded fishing boats when they could whilst others stayed in and outside the mosques in the islands praying to Almighty Allah to save them from the anticipated natural calamity.

There are lessons to be learned from the experience of last night and that of December tsunami. All Maldivians should seriously consider the threat of tsunami and try to move to larger islands like those in Addu Atoll, Fuah Mulah and Laamu Atoll Gan. At least then they will not be as vulnerable as they are now. Also, the authorities must be vigilant and alert to the natural occurrences in the region. They must try to warn the people and device mechanisms to safeguard the lives of the people. They must not stop information from flowing into the people. For example, on 26^th December 2004, Dhivehi Observer broke the news of the earthquake and even assessed the possibility of a tsunami wave but the site was not accessible to most of the populations in the islands and the time was too early in the morning for it to have reached more people. The government radio station dismissed the news so no one knew about it except those who experienced the earthquake and the few who read it on Dhivehi Observer. Three hours later, the country was subjected to the forces of the worse tidal wave ever, which later people knew by the name of tsunami.

“Had there been a similar warning in December like last night about a tsunami and the news of the earthquake on national radio and television, we could have saved our goods and livelihoods or at least minimised the damage. I would not have opened my shop that day if I knew that a wave was going to hit us. I lost more than Mrf 100,000/- worth of goods and thousands more in lost revenue because of the December tsunami. If there was an early warning, we could have even saved several lives,” said Mohamed, a local trader who has a shop in the sea front of Male’. “Obviously, we cannot stop natural disasters from occurring but we can try and minimise its damage. Even on 26^th December, I think the government had more than 3 hours to alert us but they did not think much of the earthquake. Maybe they are not competent, especially those in the meteorological department. Otherwise they should have done something after the tsunami hit other country before it hit us. We could have saved lives and livelihood has that been the case,” added Mohamed with a sigh of relief that it was after all a false alarm last night

Maldivians today are ever so grateful to Almighty Allah for not putting them through another fateful day like 26^th December 2004. Despite the rush of blood, fear and anxiety, everyone tried their best to be safe and secure their living in everyway possible and then prayed to Almighty to save them.

Last night was a lesson for us all. In future, we must be even better prepared for such a calamity.