US embassy cable - 05COLOMBO38

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 COLOMBO 000038 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND CA/OCS 
STATE PLEASE ALSO PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA - THAYER, FLEMING, 
GARVELINK 
BANGKOK FOR USAID/OFDA - TOM DOLAN 
DELHI FOR FAS 
GENEVA FOR NANCY KYLOW 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AEMR, EAID, PGOV, MV, Maldives 
SUBJECT: TFXO01:  MALDIVES SITREP -- A UNIQUE NATION WITH 
UNIQUE RELIEF NEEDS 
 
REF: COLOMBO 31 AND PREVIOUS 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  During a visit by USG officials to 
Maldives January 2-4, a clear picture emerged of the 
devastion of the local islands and the govermnent's needs for 
assistance.  On three islands visited, varying degrees of 
destruction met the U.S. team with piles of rubble where 
houses once stood and streets littered with the debris of 
household possessions, growing moldy in the equatorial sun 
after being submerged during the December 26 tsunami.  In the 
wake of the disaster, the government has specific needs. 
Water availability and distribution topped the list, followed 
by temporary shelter, clearance of debris, and rehabilitation 
of generators and fishing vessels.  An overriding need for 
all these efforts is logistical support to distribute 
resources and expertise to the affected islands.  From the 
visit, USAID and US military officials see clear areas where 
the U.S. can offer assistance.  End Summary. 
 
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An island paradise 
------------------ 
 
2.  (U) A U.S. team visited Maldives January 2-4 to assess 
humanitarian and relief needs following the December 26 
tsunami.  The team comprised poloff, DAO's security 
 
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assistance FSN, two members of the US military Combined 
Support Group (CSG) team and one member of USAID's DART team. 
 Following visits on Male' with Government of the Republic of 
Maldives (GORM) officials and representatives from various UN 
agencies, the team visited four islands throughout the island 
nation. 
 
3.  (U) Although Maldives' 200 inhabited islands and 100 
tourist islands were all affected to different degrees, the 
tsunami washed through all the islands, submerging the entire 
 
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country for a time.  For poloff, who had been visiting and 
working in Maldives for over 18 months, it was hard to 
rationalize the quiet simplicity of Maldives -- white sand, 
blue water, green palm trees -- juxtaposed against the rubble 
that was once walls of houses or the upended fishing boats 
(the primary source of income) tossed on the shore or debris 
and brush washed into the once-pristine lagoons.  Where do 
you go when you live on a patch of sand in the Indian Ocean 
less than one-kilometer square and the ocean around you 
starts to pour through the streets and rise?  Where do you go 
when you live on an island of 3,700 and there is only a 
handful of buildings more than one story and the water 
reached four feet at the island's highest point and does not 
recede immediately? 
 
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Coping with the tragedy 
----------------------- 
 
4.  (U) Maldivians suffered the loss of 75 citizens, plus 3 
tourists and 3 expatriate workers, with another 24 Maldivians 
still missing as of January 3, 2005.  While casualties are 
significantly less than other countries in the region, the 
death toll is severe in proportion to the country's small 
population of 280,000.  The World Health Organization defines 
countries as a disaster area if causalities are on the order 
of 2-3 (or greater) per 10,000.  Maldives falls in this 
category, with the death toll making it the third-worst 
affected country in the region, according to Moez Doraid, 
UNDP Resident Representative in Maldives.  The government's 
tsunami information website states that, as of January 3, 
 
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over 12,000 people are homeless with some 8,000 of them 
categorized as displaced.  Three schools are being used as 
relief centers on Male', currently housing over 800 
internally displaced people (IDPs).  These centers can only 
be temporary since school is now scheduled to begin January 
25, postponed from the original January 9 start of the school 
year. 
 
5.  (U) In addition to the physical trauma, various 
interlocutors made one point over and over to the U.S. team 
that all Maldivians are suffering psychologically.  What do 
you do when you live on an island and it floods?  One 
interlocutor said that Maldivians love the ocean and are 
having trouble comprehending the violence of the water on 
December 26.  Another said that Maldivians, especially young 
boys, are always playing in the water, but that no one wants 
to go in the water now.  (The U.S. team did not see any 
Maldivians swimming in the islands' lagoons during the 
two-day visit.) 
 
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Devastation first hand 
---------------------- 
 
6.  (SBU) Government officials say it is hard to accurately 
estimate the scale of the damage since, they admit, not every 
island has been visited by a government official for an 
initial assessment.  They state that they have re-established 
communication with every island, but for some that means via 
hand-held radios or boats from nearby islands ferrying 
messages.  The U.S. team, accompanied by officers from the 
Maldivian Defense Ministry's National Security Service (NSS), 
visited three islands that were among the most severely 
affected in the wake of the December 26 tsunami.  According 
to GORM and UN statistics, 20 inhabited islands were 
completely devastated and either need to be wholly 
redeveloped or to have the population permanently relocated. 
 
7.  (U) In the Raa Atoll, approximately 140 kms northwest of 
Male', the U.S. team visited Kadholhudhoo island, one of the 
densest in terms of population within Maldives.  The island, 
and it 3,700 inhabitants, is less than one kilometer square 
and was one of the most severely affected by the tsunami. 
Three people died in the flood, during which water reached 
over 6 feet in some places and did not recede for over 20 
minutes.  In the aftermath of the disaster, the narrow 
streets are strewn with rubble and household items.  All of 
the residents were evacuated to nearby islands.  The men 
return during the day to sift through the remains of their 
families' possessions and retrieve anything worth saving. 
According to the atoll chief, the islanders do not want to 
return to Kadholhudhoo and want the government's help to 
relocate.  NSS Major Nazim told the U.S. team that the 
especially low-lying island was traditionally prone to 
small-scale flooding during the monsoon season and the 
government had been trying to convince the community to move 
elsewhere.  Nazim though the GORM was supportive of the 
islanders' wish now to relocate. 
 
8.  (U)  On January 3, the team visited Kolhuvaariyaafushi in 
the southern Meemu Atoll, some 160 kms south of Male'.  The 
large island with a population of 1232 people suffered 10 
deaths from the tsunami and 6 residents are still missing. 
Water reached over six feet in some places and locals said 
the entire island remained inundated for over one hour. 
Upwards of 50 people were injured, with some now at the 
hospital in Male' for treatment.  Local officials told us 
that approximately 500 people were evacuated after the 
tsunami hit, but most have returned.  The women and children 
 
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are living under tents on the shore, while the men sleep in 
shifts on the dhonis in the harbor.  The local island chief 
said that President Gayoom had visited the island on December 
29 and promised government resources for relief and 
rehabilitation efforts.  Given the relatively large landmass 
of the island (about 15 acres), government officials state 
the island must remain inhabited, thus the commitment of 
resources to helping the community rebuild. 
 
9.  (U) Later on January 3, the team visited Vilufushi and 
neighboring Guraidhoo islands in the Thaa Atoll, almost 200 
kilometers southwest of Male'.  Vilufushi, also with a 
population of 1200, has suffered severely from the tsunami. 
Fourteen residents had died, with another three missing and 
presumed dead.  One islander recounted seeing the tidal wave 
wash 200 residents off the island, only to have the second 
wave sweep most of them back.  The second-most populated 
island in the atoll, the government is also intent on 
rebuilding here.  One resident, a construction projects 
manager for the government in Male', was back home, helping 
coordinate efforts to clear the rubble from the streets.  He 
added that the community still needed engineers to come and 
assess that stability of the houses that remained standing, 
fearing that the entire island would need to be razed and 
rebuilt. 
 
10.  (U) The nearby island of Guraidhoo, seat of atoll 
administration, was much less affected by the tsunami and now 
hosting many residents evacuated from Vilufushi.  The 
island's population was normally 1800, but had now swelled to 
over 2300 with the influx of 500 IDPs.  During the visit, the 
U.S. team met the island chief who stated that the displace 
families were being housed by the local residents and that 
multiple families were now living in one house.  The 
islanders were also helping those fellow community members 
whose house on Guraidhoo had been damaged. 
 
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Clear and specific needs for assistance 
--------------------------------------- 
 
11.  (U) While the level of damage and devastation varied 
among islands, there were some immediate and long-term needs 
that were clear across all the places visited.  In addition, 
they are the same needs that emerged after multiple 
discussions with government and UN officials involved in the 
relief effort.  A list of primary needs follows below: 
 
-- Severely damaged water sources:  All the islands reported 
that their water collection and storage systems were damaged 
and some severely.  Desalinization equipment, in use on a few 
islands, had been damaged by the flood.  Well water, used for 
bathing and cleaning, was now saline with salty water 
re-filling the few wells that had been pumped.  Catchment 
systems for collecting rainwater from roofs were destroyed 
and dozens of 2500-liter plastic tanks -- often, one per 
family -- used to store water were washed away.  NSS and 
ministry officials noted that, in the northern part of 
Maldives, January was the onset of the dry season and rain 
could not be expected before May.  Coupled with the damage to 
the water sources, the tsunami also impacted the sanitation 
systems on many islands. 
 
-- Generators under water:  Many generators were running at 
the time of the tsunami and were damaged during the event. 
According to a non-professional review by the U.S. team, some 
looked salvageable, possibly requiring only immediate 
cleaning and maintenance.  In response to questions, 
government officials and representatives at the UN said that 
there had not been an assessment of the generators on the 
islands.  At the moment, the government did not have 
sufficient capacity or resources to be able to accomplish 
such an assessment or develop a plan to get the generators 
restored and back on line. 
 
-- Toll on livelihood:  Every island visited (and many more 
not seen) suffered the loss of more than one fishing vessel 
(dhoni).  Fishing is the main income generator on all these 
islands and the loss or damage to vessels will have a severe 
impact on the economic livelihood of each island community. 
In addition, government officials told us that, in 
traditional Maldivian style of helping each other, operators 
of many of the intact dhonis had voluntarily offered their 
assistance for evacuation and relief efforts.  The help was 
welcome, according to these GORM interlocutors, but their 
diversion from fishing also further endangered sorely needed 
income.  Others had not yet returned to fishing simply 
because they were still coping with the loss of their home or 
other possessions and were focusing their efforts there. 
 
-- Loss of agriculture:  The saline water that inundated the 
islands was taken up by the island's banana, breadfruit, and 
papaya trees, severely affecting these staple foods for the 
islanders.  On one island, it was a scene reminiscent of a 
Northern American autumn instead of the ever-summer weather, 
with brown leaves littering the ground.  They had all fallen 
in the last week and locals were unsure where the trees would 
survive or continue to bear fruit. 
 
-- Homes destroyed and rubble-strewn islands:  In whole or 
parts of islands, rubble, whether remnants of coral-walled 
homes or remains of household possession and commercial 
wares, litter the streets.  Those without homes need 
temporary shelter so that they can move back to their home 
island and participate in the rehabilitation process.  Before 
any thought of rebuilding or restoration of utilities can 
begin, however, the debris must be cleared and disposed.  On 
some islands, heavy equipment is too large for the narrow 
streets.  On one island, a bulldozer and dump truck were 
already at work clearing the shore.  In any case, the GORM 
does not have enough -- or appropriate -- equipment to attend 
to the task on all the islands. 
 
-- Overriding challenge of logistics:  The nation also faces 
a huge challenge in simply accessing and meeting the supply 
needs of each island.  The island chain stretches over 900 
kilometers from north to south and it is beyond the capacity 
of the government to provide immediate logistical support to 
every single island.  Further, UN officials said that 
supplies may reach the "capital" island in each of the 
country's 20 atolls and individual islands are responsible 
for traveling to the central island to collect supplies, but 
are hampered by lack of fuel for their vessels. 
 
12.  (SBU) In addition to the needs for the relief effort, 
the NSS made a personally appeal to the U.S. team for 
support.  NSS personnel are deployed throughout the islands 
to assist the local communities and help coordinate relief 
and rebuilding efforts.  Sensitive to the strain on local 
resources and intent on being self-sufficient, the NSS asked 
for rations of meals ready to eat (MREs) for its personnel 
stationed on far-flung islands.  Specifically, they estimated 
that they would need 10,000 MREs to sustain some 350 
personnel over a 6-month period.  (DAO Comment:  PACOM 
delivered 41,880 Humanitarian Daily Rations -- does not 
include pork -- to Maldives on January 4, 2005.) 
 
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Comment 
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13.  (SBU) Through meetings with interlocutors on Male' and 
visits to some of the worst affected islands, the U.S. team 
gained a clearer picture of the challenges facing Maldivians 
as they deal with the tsunami tragedy.  Fortunately, there 
are some specific areas where U.S. resources match with the 
GORM's needs and it is now incumbent on those of us here in 
Colombo to work together to coordinate and procure those 
resources for Maldives.  It is important, however, that the 
public and decision makers not assume the tragedy is less 
severe in Maldives simply because the magnitude of the 
devastation seems less.  The impact to this small island 
nation is in proportion to the effect of the tsunami on 
larger nations in the region.  The GORM seems well-organized 
in their efforts to deliver relieft and assistance, but 
officials are obviously hindered in their capacity to do so. 
They simply do not have the resources or the ability to 
provide the necessary relief and need help from the entire 
international community.  The U.S. team was gratefully 
received by both officials on Male' and residents in the 
local communities.  We must now follow up on that presence 
with a considerable U.S. effort towards relief and 
rehabilitation.  Several planeloads of DoD and OFDA relief 
supplies have been gratefully received so far.  An OFDA/DoD 
team will fly back to Maldives on January 7 as the next step 
in the U.S. assistance.  End Comment. 
LUNSTEAD