Posted on 12/26/2004 1:30:15 AM PST by Truth666
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.
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.
From what the Indian Press is saying about the Maldives,there appears to have been severe flooding & damage to property,though the reports have been sketchy on casualities(some estimate it at over a 100).While the Maldives might be an extremely small nation,it does have a decent economy to sustain itself.It's president has requested the Indian govt for assistance & 3 Indian naval ships will arrive in a few hours with relief supplies & rescue equipment & more may follow as needed.If the problem worsens,they can turn to the US(Diego Garcia) or even the French,who have assets in the region.
Your right,I doubt whether even the various Newswire services like Reuters & AP have people in the Maldives.Most international reports on the Maldives are done from Mauritious,Sri Lanka or India.Barring the odd PTI(press trust of India) correspondent,you won't find many international journalists there.
Horrific. Big water is terrifying.
Again, this is known :
- there are tens of thousands of european tourists in the Maldives now
- there is a mass media blackout about this fact and about their fate
I saw one article mention them at the bottom... it's mostly just been very brief mentions along with other little snippets on Africa. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=360586
In the Seychelles, at least nine people were reported missing after a 2-meter (6-foot) surge flooded low roads and knocked out power in hundreds of homes. At the airport, fire brigades were forced to wash dozens of fish off of the runway each time high tides sent water crashing onto the airfield.
The government declared Monday a public holiday to allow for a cleanup.
In Somalia, strong waves and winds capsized boats and kept fishermen in port.
"I do not know what to expect from the ocean," said a Somali fisherman in the coastal town of Adale, 35 miles north of Mogadishu.
Mauritius seemed largely untouched by the post-quake surge, although minor flooding struck one of the outlying islands in the archipelago, Rodrigues. On Madagascar and the Comoros Islands, residents had seen no ill effects.
Just listened to BBC World Service interview a government official of Maldives... you know... that blacked-out country... currently 30 dead and 30 missing.
Quite an effective blackout.
Just listened to BBC World Service interview a government official of Maldives... you know... that blacked-out country... currently 30 dead and 30 missing.
Quite an effective blackout.
I have absolutely no idea how that double post happened... I only clicked "post" once.
There's been lots of talk about all the tourists in the whole region. Are you wanting a specific mention of German tourists only in the Maldives? What about the other tourists there (also in huge numbers)? And what about the tourists from all over in other countries? I don't think they are spending their time saying there are ___ of ___ tourists in ___ country becuase if they did a laundry list of each number of tourists from each country represented in each country impacted they'd never get the other details out.
Here's one article that does mention some specific numbers, including from Germany.
I don't think anyone is trying to say there isn't going to be huge loss of life...I also don't think they're trying to portray one type of loss of life as more significant than another and they're going for the whole picture...and it will STILL be days before many places are accessible or able to get communication out.
I'm sure you'll get more numbers as soon as they have them.
http://www.turkishpress.com/world/news.asp?id=041226201253.2ibacevd.xml
Fears for thousands of foreign tourists in Asian tidal wave zone
12-26-2004, 20h12
PARIS (AFP) - Thousands of Europeans were holidaying in the tourist draws of southern Asia when the huge tidal waves slammed popular beaches and hotels, and early reports indicated some were dead and scores were missing in a disaster that has so far killed more than 10,000 people.
Governments and agencies set up crisis cells and hotlines and offered help to the countries swept by the giant tsunamis sparked by a huge earthquake off Indonesia, as they prepared to send planes to bring their citizens home.
Travel agencies and government officials in various European capitals said up to 10,000 British tourists may have been affected, more than 5,000 Italians, up to 5,000 French, at least 4,000 Germans, more than 2,500 Swiss, some 2,000 Poles, over 1,000 Belgians and a similar number of Greeks.
And another article mentioning the number of tourists, this time typical for this time of year in the Maldives, again, no record of where each one is from (although has there been ANY article saying the specific number of tourists from each country in ANY place? Seems like an unrealistic expectation...for ANY day, never mind in the midst of a disaster?)
Anyway, this is saying 10 dead.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/12/26/news/quake.html
The Maldives, which draws some 20,000 visitors from around the world at this time of year, reported that 10 people died and declared a state of emergency. Male, the capital city, suffered heavy flooding, forcing closure of its international airport. "The damage is considerable," said Ahmed Shaheed, a government spokesman. "It's a very bad situation, it's terrible."
.
The authorities were still waiting to hear the fate of tourists and residents scattered around some of its 1,190 tiny coral islands, many of them barely a meter above sea level.
.
Thank you so much for the information.
And another talking about the Europeans (it's a European news source...we have papers hear saying Americans are waiting, Austalia has reports that they are awaiting news, etc. EVERYONE has a lack of info) seeking information on people in the region.
It stresses patience and that it's an inability to get to many places to assess, etc. The same problem EVERY country is facing as there is probably not more than a handful of countries in the world that doesn't have SOME number of their citizens in at least one of these impacted areas.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=644554
Europeans await word after deadly tsunami
Sun Dec 26, 2004 11:07 PM GMT
By Peter Graff
LONDON (Reuters) - Families throughout Europe are spending anxious hours desperate for news of loved ones after giant waves slammed into some of Asia's most popular resorts at peak season, killing thousands of people.
Throughout Sunday there was hardly any information from the region about the extent of casualties among Western tourists, though witnesses spoke of holidaymakers washed out to sea by the flood, caused by an undersea earthquake.
The region's balmy temperatures and pristine beaches attract tens of thousands of Britons, Germans, Italians, French, Russians, Israelis and others, especially this time of year when Mediterranean destinations are chilly.
Foreign ministries and tour operators set up telephone hotlines which were immediately swamped.
"Obviously there's a lack of information and a heck of a lot of phone calls," Keith Betton, spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents, said.
(snip)
PATIENCE
Charter flights due to take in new groups of tourists will fly to the region empty to help evacuate those on the ground, Betton and other charter agencies said.
Betton advised families with loved ones in the region not to panic. "Just be patient with everyone. As soon as we can get the information we will make it public."
The French Foreign Ministry set up a crisis centre and a telephone hotline to field questions from anxious relatives.
The ministry said it would send 64 rescue workers and eight Red Cross staff to Sri Lanka on Monday, along with tarpaulins, tents and water purification equipment.
Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini told reporters in Rome that several Italian tourists were missing and some were injured, but he gave no further details.
Spokeswoman for Russia's tourist industry union Irina Tyurina, quoted by Interfax news agency, said 1,500 Russians could have been staying on the popular Thai island of Phuket.
"Tour operators have not ruled out that Russians could be among the dead," she said.
For those with relatives in the region, there was little to do but hope.
TOTAL DEVASTATION
"My sister and her husband are in the Maldives. We are all so worried. Let us all pray that God is watching over all those involved," Nikkie Robinson, of Dover in England, told Sky News.
Television beamed witness accounts back home from tourists.
(snip)
Foreign ministries of several European countries said their ambassadors were speeding from Bangkok to Phuket in the hope of gathering information and assisting tourists there.
Among tourists in the region was Austria's Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser, said to be safe in the Maldives.
And actually, on top of that, it is "known" that MANY tourists don't register with the embassies of the countries they visit (several articles now pointing out this issue...although I suspect most who travel would say the same) and that the LACK of the tourists registering at the country they are visiting is not allowing the home country to have accurate numbers of who is where...
So really, on top of the fact that there have been articles all along talking about tens of thousands of tourists, the lack of information able to be given specifically (due to lack of access or ability to get info out) and the major destruction, Truth can add that it's "known" if people registered perhaps they could get more specifics out sooner.
FYI for anyone interested:
Here's the website of the President's Office for the Maldives:
http://www.presidencymaldives.gov.mv/v3/index.phtml
There are various presidential press releases about the various states of emergency, assistance offered from various places, etc.
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/EB_xmas2b.jpg
"We're doomed, no matter what."
Why is there a "media blackout", other than the inability to report due to the communications being cut by the tsunami?
It is feared the death toll could rise since communications to the other islands has been severed. Source: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3929684
!!!
Ack...
Big oil, big tobacco, now there's big water. How to sue big water? The sharks are gonna circle somewhere.
LOL
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