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| Thursday, 27 January 2005 |
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$ 20 million ADB grants for reconstruction in Male MALE, Maldives, Wednesday, The Asian Development Bank is offering initial new assistance of $20 million in grants to help the Maldives' post-tsunami reconstruction and rehabilitation effort, ADB Vice President Liqun Jin said at meetings with Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Finance and Treasury Minister Mohamed Jaleel yesterday. The grants, subject to approval by ADB's Board of Directors, would be in addition to ADB's regular assistance operations. Jin who also visited the island of Kaafu Guraidhoo to see homes and livelihoods that were broken by the tsunami and spoke to survivors in a tented camp for internally displaced persons, said the Maldives is among the most severely impacted of the tsunami-hit countries. Although coral reefs helped reduce the impact of the tsunami and kept the official tally of fatalities below 100, a third of the 290,000 population has been affected, directly or indirectly. Waves ranging from one to five metres high flooded the country where the average elevation is only 1.5 metres above sea level. Some 5% have had their homes completely or partially damaged. The supply of drinking water has been severely disrupted. Furthermore, floodwaters have infiltrated the islands' shallow freshwater aquifers. The tsunami has severely affected people's incomes by hitting hard the key revenue-earning sectors, tourism and fisheries. At Kaafu Guraidhoo, Vice President Jin saw some of the worst effects of the tsunami, which damaged the fishermen's boats and closed nearby tourist resorts, thus stripping islanders of their capital, livelihood and nearby market. (ADB press release) |
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