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Tsunami waves flood Maldives

Gayyoom should do more to help

DAY 3

 

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Local News - 28/12/2004

Maldives Parliamentary Election delayed until 22nd January 2005

The parliamentary election which was scheduled for 31st December 2004 has been rescheduled for 22nd January 2004 according to Election Commissions Office. As previously speculated by DO, the country is not in a state to hold election because of the relief operation. It remains to be seen whether the country can return to normalcy by this date. This will perhaps bring an end to the unethical activities by parliamentary candidates endorsed by Gayyoom from taking advantage of the needy by labelling aid and food package with their name. Such behaviour has been witnessed in Noon Atoll (Yameen Abdul Gayyoom - the powerful brother), Vaavu Atoll (Abdulla Shiahd - Gayyoom's secretary), Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll (Abbas Ibrahim - brother in law of Gayyoom) and in Haa Alif by Samarubluloo Ibrahim Manik - brother in law of Gayyoom). These people are obviously above the law.

 

 

Apology
Abdulla Jameel's family rescue story Thaa Atoll 

DO would like to apologise for the misinformation in the news excerpt about the rescue of Jameel family which was published yesterday. The family have today contacted DO by phone and confirmed that this was not the case. She also asserted that the family did hire a vessel to try and rescue the family camping in an uninhabited island in Thaa Atoll. However, the vessel was not hired from MTCC but Ellaidhoo Manik and that after picking up the family they roamed around the Atoll in the dark of the night and even brought several sick and injured from the Atoll to Male'.

The message has upset family and friends of Jameel's family. DO sincerely apologised for the distress caused by this news.

 

 

Letter to Editor

Island offices prohibiting individuals carrying out any relief work say policeman

Please do something. Some islands offices are prohibiting individuals carrying out  any relief activities without permission/notice (or whatever) from island offices/atoll offices. This is to restrict any candidate other than government candidates benefiting from the situation. So they are more interested in limiting that than helping people. read more

 

Death toll estimated to be more than 75000
It is a frightening thought but expert view is that our tiny islands would have been completely wiped out had we been subjected to the similar forces which the eastern shores of Sri Lanka experienced. Nature has its own way and natural disasters are not uncommon yet, this disaster in which our tiny nation is also engulfed in, is turning into one of the worst natural disasters in modern history. Organisations such as the United Nations as well as other NGOs and humanitarian groups are launching the largest ever humanitarian relief operation in the world. And, United States also have announced that it is to launch the largest relief operation ever in its history to try and save as many lives as possible in the vast area of the India Ocean shores which have been affected by this earthquake and its disastrous repercussions. Estimates from experts about the total loss of life in this disaster is expected to be well over 70,000.  Death toll is Sri Lanka is 18000. In India officials confirm more than 5000 whilst reporting that more than 30000 are unaccounted for in the Indian administered Andaman and Nicobar Island. The Indonesia authorities confirm more than 4000 death but expect the number to reach 25000 and close to 5000 is expected in Thailand. It is expected that this will become the world's worst natural disaster on record as the aftermath of this disaster will be quite bad because of the difficulty in containing the spread of diseases and provision of basic food and water to the millions who are homeless and remain is remote inaccessible areas spread over the whole of the India Ocean.

 

DO Report
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"
Several Coast Guard vessels remain moored in the harbour apparently for Gayyoom's personal security. Furthermore, the centralised control by the Disaster Task Force by Gayyoom makes it impossible for locals to help the people, what on earth does Gayyoom want, why is he playing with the 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 while thousands 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 him, just statistics. read more

Tsunami Wave disaster in Maldives: Gayyoom's failure to protect and help Maldivians, foreign workers and tourists

Gayyoom has been strutting the international stage, lecturing the world on rising sea levels and championing himself as the world's top environmentalist and 'A Man for All Islands'. He is a hollow man. His plan for Maldives has been for him and his clan to build skyscrapers in Male' and invest in overseas property, and leave the rest of the country to rot while they steal the aid money and taxes and bribes.
The atolls and his critics in Male' are terrorised and subdued by the NSS and imprisonment and torture - all ordered directly by Gayyoom. The NSS is not a national security service - they are Gayyoom's private militia. They are not interested in saving Maldivians, they are busy protecting their hated commander from the people. 
Gayyoom is too scared to allow large numbers of his NSS away from Male'. In August this year he unleashed his militia on the capital and beat hundreds of people. A mass humiliation beating of hooded reformers was attended by Gayyoom's ministers, and as the NSS beat and abused the crouching prisoners, Foreign Minister Fathullah Jameel shouted abuse, the chief of police Adam Zahir urinated on them, and the ministers cheered. 
Gayyoom and the men and women who surround him, despise their fellow Maldivians with the deep contempt that masters have for their slaves. This regime has no interest in saving the Maldivian people. They are only interested in their resorts and the millions of dollars they have stolen and invested in property in Maldives and overseas. read more  


Gayyoom fiddles while his subjects flood
DO email
TV Maldives captured the much-praised commander benignly observing the suffering of his subjects. He condescended to speak to them, moving his lips tirelessly and blessing them with presidential profundity. 'Natural disasters often happen unpredictably without warning,' he said, keeping a straight face. ' When a huge earthquake takes place under the ocean and if there are no barriers, then the land close by may feel the impact.'
read more


51 dead and 70 missing in Maldives
Selected translations from Dhivehi articles in Haveeru, 27 December 2004
The National Security Service ( NSS) is complaining that some election candidates are taking inappropriate advantage of the situation by identifying the food and clothing aid send to people in devastated islands as having come from a certain people. NSS warned candidates not to do this.
Appearing on TV Maldives, the Deputy commissioner of police Ibrahim Latheef said that he has noticed that some people taking inappropriate advantage of the situation and it should not be done. The aid is from all, and it should not be identified as coming from just some people. Aid must not be taken in the name of particular people, he said.
read more translations, includes list of known names of dead and missing


52 Dead,  68 Missing - Latest figures from DO correspondent
Received at hospital - 188
Admitted to hospital - 40

Laamu atoll - causeway between Fonadhoo and Kahdhoo severely damaged. Elderly people in Gan are being treated for injuries such as broken limbs, noses etc. 
Meemu atoll - all houses destroyed in Madifushi. People moved on  their own to Raiymandhoo island.  Causeway linking two islands has been destroyed. Sanitation problems in refuge, because only two toilets for all the people. Medicine is needed urgently for children. Reef fish rotting after the tsunami.
White Sands resort (Ari Beach) - Maldivian construction workers lost their tools when tsunami hit, and they climbed into the cocnut palms for refuge.   
Mathiveri island, north Ari atoll - two generators not functioning reliably.
Noonu atoll - Maafaru and Kudafaree islands have no electricity
Male' - drug addicts and thieves are coaxing goods and other relief supplies from people. Authorities advise that relief workers should carry identification.


Gayyoom ignores islands
DO email
There wasn't any systematic effort to find the situation in the islands and in the resorts. Even after everyone found out that the communication system was not working, the NSS did not send vessels or sea planes to check the situation of the people in the islands. A coast guard vessel left Male' only after 5.30pm. That really shows the level of interest they had in assessing the situation in the islands.
read more

Holiday and Sun Island resorts on Alifu (Ari) atoll have not been damaged by the tsunamis. Early reports that Sun Island was damaged are incorrect according to senior management. 

Tsunami dive experience in Maldives - 'really strange'
After 4 hours of calling I have reached Hansi Heftrich Aquanaut staff of Kandoomafushi Resort South Maldives. I spoke to him via telephone and he described the following:
In the morning before the tsunami they were doing their usual diving business. After arriving at Miaru Faru, Hansi decided not to dive the outer reef side because the current was a little bit stronger. They went to Kuda Giri which is inside the atoll. He was with a beginner and felt really strange while diving, because visibility was only about 5-6 metres. The current was changing constantly. This feeling, and these strange things, he had never experienced before in more that 1000 dives.
After he got to the safety stop, there was a winching machine that put him and his beginner down from 5 to 8, then to 12, and then to 17 metres. They were spinning around in the water not knowing where up or down was.
After they got back to the surface, they all thought, 'What a really strange dive!'
The boat captain Ahmed told them that there had been a big wave one metre high.
They decided to go back to Kandoomafushi, and they saw wood and canoes drifting in the sea.
At Kandooma harbour they saw what happended:
The whole beach was gone and the water was three metres higher than normal. Even the color of the water inside the harbor was a deeper blue than before. All water was running back into the ocean.
They saw all the palm trees lying on the ground and even the water from the drainage system was stirred up, so it didn't smell good.
The island manager coordinated everything quite well, and was waiting on the dhoani at the jetty, handing out life vests to all tourists and staff working on the island. Food, water and vegetables were taken from the island and handed out to the tourists. They all were brought on dhoanis to Vilivaru and Bijado. No tourists nor staff are injured.
The Maldivian staff and boat crew have been working for more that 24 hours without sleep to get generators for power etc. Kandooma Island will never be the same. Some tourists were awake early in the morning around 6 am and were brought to Male' in order to catch a flight. The staff will now take everything from the diving school and then also go home to Germany next week. The Maldivians are trying clean up, but it will be months before Kandooma will look the same again. The water was about as high as the tables in the  bungalows.
The good news is:
The people from Kandooma are safe.
Cocoa Island the luxury resort next to Kandooma also was not damaged
Biyado and Villivaru also not damaged.

However, in Guraidhoo no light is burning. Guraidhoo needs urgent help. 
Villivaru has enough water and rooms for everybody.


Where is our vision?

What are our authorities doing to curb the financial crisis facing our business system now the tourism industry, the hub of our economy, has been decapitated? The panic will have a ripple effect.
Many of our businesses operate on a credit basis and no one knows our credit exposure. When uncertainly looms, and in the absence of credible information and assurance, the businesses will call in all debts. There will be more unemployment, food shortages and despair, and eventually a loss of social order.
read more