[Coral-List] Tsunami and Atolls, low-lying islands

[Verena Wiesbauer Ali]

Dr. Fenner encouraged me to post following reply to his question, whether
there were deaths in the Maldives after the 2004 Tsunami, to the group:

Yes there were deaths - must be around 100 because 82 were confirmed dead
and another 26 went missing (don't know if they have turned out dead or
not!?). Anyhow, important is that about 12,000 became homeless, some of
which are still living in temporary shelters (they don't want to leave!). At
least 23 tourist resorts were damaged and had to be re-built or renovated -
tourism is the Maldivians' livelihood (besides fishing). Here's some more
info: http://www.unep.org/tsunami/reports/TSUNAMI_MALDIVES_LAYOUT.pdf
Now the government has to seriously deal with our low-lying islands, but it
is difficult to convince the people that it would be wise to move to a
larger island.

The danger from Tsunamis to low-lying islands like the Maldives is extremely
high.

Interestingly, it seems that the few mangrove areas we have might have
absorbed some of the devastating power of the tsunami in a few islands:
http://www.bluepeacemaldives.org/news2007/atoll_mangroves.htm

Cheers,
Verena

-- 
 Verena Wiesbauer Ali, M.Sc.
Marine Biologist / Zoologist
EIA Consultant: 03/10
Austria and Maldives
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