Dhivehi Observer News | South Asia | Maldives

Is Gayyoom able or even prepared to manage this disaster?

Gayyoom's Disaster Taskforce – a bureaucratic organ design to minimise damage of the country’s pristine image "a holiday haven"

DO Report, Male' 28 Dec 2004


	These coast guard vessels can travel at speeds up to 40 knots and reach remote location - equipped with sophisticated radar and gps systems , are moored in the harbour of Male' on the day Maldives is suppose to be on the largest humanitarian rescue and help mission

	Island cargo carrying vessels are still moored in the harbour - the government is not utilising these and public have no means to purchase food and take them to the island, Gayyoom wants to take credit for the management and does not want people to help in quantity - but why?

	Slow dhoni (boats) that travel at 8 miles per hour or less with this kind of load are bring used to send food to islands - again photo opportunity when high speed vessels and large cargo vessels are moored in the harbour

	Thousands of Maldivians are homeless and many more are left to their own feet across the country - no credible news to hundreds of islands 3rd day into the disaster

	These are the few lucky ones who live nearby Male'; these photo opportunities are used to show the world how well Gayyoom is managing the situation

"I have been visiting the disaster centre in Iskandar and I do not think it is effective at all. It is seen by most people as a mess. Since we are so used to take orders all the time and have forgotten what leadership and initiative is, no one knows what to do next without orders from the top. More importantly. Don't u think this is the time for a national reconciliation? Stop the trials of all those charged in August. Besides, they have not done anything to even deserve what they are going through. It was nice to see Qasim Ibrahim sitting with Ismail Shafeeu, Dr. Shaugy, Abdulla Kamaaluddin, Umar Zahir, 22 Zahir and the whole crowed in the control room in Iskandar trying to find out how to help those in need. The idea of a national reconciliation is a good one and must be floated soon. Gayyoom should think hard and come down to earth, to the level of human beings. He sleeps in his grand palace whilst thousands of his people are deprived of food and sleep, left in the cold of the night, wet and weak" wrote a top official from the Maldives to this site, some one who has served Gayyoom is the closest rings at the very top.

Several Coast Guard vessels remain moored in the harbour apparently for Gayyoom's personal security. Furthermore, the centralised control by the Disaster Task Force of Gayyoom makes it impossible for locals to help the people, what on earth does Gayyoom want, why is he playing with the l lives of our people? - (Pictures: Male' harbour 27 Aug 2004 - 2:30 pm). Gayyoom is not utilising the full strength of the available logistics and resources whilst thousand of Maldivians are left to die of hunger and hyperthermia. Death tolls continue to rise and Gayyoom has no idea about the scale of the operation. People are mere numbers for, a statistic.

Had the tsunami reached the Maldives at full impact, indubitably the paradise on earth would have instantaneously been wiped off the face of the globe. No one disagrees. What concerns me at this point is the level of post-disaster preparedness. Our Beloved President, Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom who has spent the better part of his reign to raise International Concerns for the safety of the low-lying nations has overlooked the possibility of such a risk actually materialising. Instead of laying blame on any one individual or an agency the phenomenon of following strictly by precedent, is not new to Maldivians. I daresay that we Maldivians come to acknowledge our mistakes and short-sightedness only after having been struck with disaster and calamity. More than 2 decades ago, the "tidal waves" which hit Male remains the only reason why the initiative for the low-lying islands was undertaken and a sea-wall around Male- upon which hundreds of thousands of dollar was spent on to build. While facing this new tragedy, we now come across the concept of an "aftermath" that is in itself as big as the disaster.

One simple example I would like to bring to attention is a question posed at an interview by one of the news-reporters. The inquiry directed at the spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign affairs was asked about the extent to which the purview of International aid efforts would be affected, due to the absence of an outfit planned before hand to deal with contingencies. To this the Foreign Affairs spokesperson responded quite tacitly by saying that "it was not their business".

Then whose business is it?

Slapping on a piece of A4 Size paper titled "Disaster Taskforce", does not render the level of efficiency in planning nor does it act as a reliable conduit for the smooth and fast distribution of International aid. The performance of military units, high ranked civil-servants and volunteers can be augmented by a rehearsed procedure or mechanism to streamline the efforts of these individual units, coordinate foreign aid and the employment of technical expertise to increase the efficiency of the whole process. This would call for a decentralised command-base which is competent in prioritizing the disaster struck regions in accordance to standard emergency management procedures and accordingly given the authority to publicize independently without submission to other bureaucratic officers.

While there aren't any highlands in the island-nations, I cannot shake off the weight on my conscience knowing very well that some fore-planning could have been done to mitigate the loss of life and damage to property and industry. With this done, the outcome could have been just as disastrous as the present situation- however, had we done so, we would know that we had done everything possible within the confines of our ability. Each additional death of Maldivian not only brings sadness and tears, but deepens the guilt of having not thought through these events before they happen.

For the moment, however, our focus should be mainly trained on aiding the islands and the distressed areas. Partially controversial to "voice of Disaster's" opinion, this is a time to mourn and think as to how to improve a situation as the one we are in right now. As correctly pointed modern seismology is limited and inaccurate as far as projection of such disasters are concerned. But is it not true, no matter how disastrous these unforeseen events happen to be, we could do better if we had contingency plans formulated beforehand?

Gayyoom says one thing and does another. No one could have prevented this disaster but as the administrative body of the country, it is the duty of the government to have in place proper mechanisms to ensure all its people are cared for and attended to. Out of more than 200 islands populated and scattered across a 500 mile distance there are still more than a 100 islands about which no one has any reliable information. In this age of technology some argue that the government should have had in place alternative mechanisms to ensure communication is not lost in a disaster such as this.

Furthermore, several vessels including Coast Guard vessels and even local boats remain even today moored in the harbour of Male' when thousands of Maldivians are people are still unattended and in distress, without food or access to dry land.

So, it is time to raise the question, Is Gayyoom able to manage this disaster in good faith? or even prepared?