'People sleeping in boats'
2005-01-11 08:01
Kolhufushi - The Maldivians usually depend on fishing and tourism to make a living, but in this backwater of the Indian Ocean islands, the locals lived off the land by growing bananas.
That was until last month's tsunamis struck, devastating the villagers' crop and destroying their livelihood.
Now they have been forced to go back to the sea.
Despite losing their homes, the children on the island managed to sing for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan when he came to visit the banana capital of the Maldives on Monday to see the destruction for himself.
But Annan barely had a glimpse of the devastated banana plantations which had been the lifeline of hundreds of people here, where unlike other parts of the island chain, people mainly live off harvesting mangos, melons and bananas.
Only grow coconuts
Assistant island chief Nazeem Hussain, 28, said they will now be able to grow only coconuts. The loss of their former livelihood means many will be forced to take up fishing.
"In this island, the majority were farmers," Hussain said. "We have only a few fishing boats and they became the shelter after people lost all their houses."
Hussain's 62-year-old father was among the 11 people killed here in the December 26 tsunamis that submerged the entire island, which is 3km long and about half a kilometer wide.
"There was about five feet of water in our house. I saw my father holding on to a fruit tree, but after a few minutes I could not see him," Hussain said. "We found his body six hours later."
Six people are still missing from this island. In the entire Maldives, an archipelago of 1 192 tiny coral islands, a total of 82 people were killed and another 26 are missing.
Local island chief Yoosuf Sidgee, 31, said just over 1 100 people were now living in temporary shelters put up with tents and sheds.
The survivors carry out communal cooking as no one is keen to go back to their damaged homes until the clean up is complete.
Sidgee said it could take months for them to get back to normal. Getting supplies to this remote corner is not easy. There are no mobile phones here and only three radio phones which were useless when there was no electricity in the first few days after the disaster.
A German company is now helping with desalination of sea water so that the residents have clean drinking water. All the wells are contaminated and the mango trees are losing their leaves.
But many adults fear that there could be a re-run of the tsunamis.
Khadheeja Nazeema, 23, who is helping at the communal kitchen, says elders are worried there could be another sea surge.
Tents have been put up for residents, but many still sleep in boats that used to transport the fruit produce from here to the capital. "They think it is safer," Nazeema said. "If the water level goes up, they will still be floating."
- AFP