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5 January 2005
By BBC Online
The impact of the recent tsunami on the Maldives
has set back development by two decades,
the government has said.
Chief government spokesman Ahmed Shaheed
said that while the archipelago was spared
huge loss of life, the land itself was severely
damaged.
Of the country's 199 inhabited islands,
53 had suffered severe damage, while about
20 were "totally destroyed".
The official death toll on the islands stand
at 82 people, while a further 26 people are
unaccounted for.
More than 12,500 people were displaced.
Across the region, at least 150,000 people
are thought to have died.
Infrastructure gone
"The tsunami had within a few minutes
set the country back by at least two decades
as far as socio-economic development is concerned," Mr
Shaheed said.
A third of the country's 300,000 population
were severely affected, he said.
Maldives Planning Minister Hamdoon Hameed
estimated the total cost of the damage at
$4.8bn.
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Waves
destroyed boats and property, Maldives
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Fourteen islands were completely evacuated,
79 islands do not have safe drinking water,
26 islands have no electricity, 24 islands
have no telephones and four islands have
no communication facilities.
Schools, clinics and pharmacies have been
destroyed, on some 50 islands.
"In some islands, there is not a single
structure standing," Mr Shaheed said.
Fishing and tourism, both mainstays of the
local economy, have been severely disrupted.
Nineteen of the country's 87 luxury resorts
were severely damaged and will be closed
for many months.
"The tourist arrival figures have already
halved in what would effectively have been
the peak season," he said.
Crops have also been lost due to salt-water
contamination.
Although none of the islands extends more
than 1.8m (6ft) above sea level, the Maldives
was spared much of the destructive impact
of the Indian Ocean tsunami because of the
shallow waters along its coastline.
With no land mass for the swell of water
to build up against - as it did in Indonesia,
India and Sri Lanka - the waves did not reach
more than 1.2-1.5m (4-5ft) in height.
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