Actually CNN has mentioned it in each report they've done (and they have been live off and on...CNN International) and articles are mentioning it with close to the amount of specifics that are known from anywhere else. I'm not sure where that title came from...It doesn't appear to be the actual article title, perhaps more the OP opinion? The title on the page is: Maldives flooded after tidal waves, reports of casualties but no figures
I think the bigger issue is that MANY of these areas have a HUGE lack of communication capabilities right now...and some are just so cut off becuase of damage that it's simply lack of real specifics because of the damage.
Just my two cents...
At the outset, tsunamis are not like the run-of-the-mill street flooding in a Tennessee town. This tsunami reached 20 feet in Sri Lanka. And the wave is really the land becoming the ocean. People can be knocked off their feet in just a few inches of rushing water/imagine the forces created by these monsters!
The link I used linked ultimately to an AFP story used in the Khaleej Times http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2004/December/theworld_December685.xml§ion=theworld
Maldives flooded after tidal waves, reports of casualties but no figures
(AFP) 26 December 2004
COLOMBO - The Indian Ocean tourist paradise of the Maldives was hit by tidal waves that flooded two thirds of the capital island, Male, and shut the international airport, the government said.
A statement from the Maldivian government said there were reports of casualties, but gave no figures. The tidal waves were triggered by a powerful earthquake that struck an island off Indonesia.
However, the government said two thirds of the capital was under about four feet (1.2 meters) of water in some areas. About a third of the country’s 330,000 population live in the highly congested capital island.
“From about 9:00 am (0400 GMT) in the morning, the capital, Male, and other parts of the country have been flooded by the tsunami caused by the earthquakes in the eastern Indian ocean,” the statement said.
Sri Lanka’s international airport said they were told by the authorities in the Maldives that tidal waves had flooded the Hululle airport island and the runway was closed indefinitely, cutting off air transport to the Maldives.
Maldives is a cluster of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator and is vulnerable to any rise in sea levels.
The fate of tens of thousands of tourists in the Maldives was not immediately known.