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10 January 2005
By AFP
MALE (AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
arrived here on the final leg of his tour
of tsunami devastated nations as the Maldives
showcased how 20 years of hard labour was
lost in one of South Asia's hottest tourist
destinations.
The Maldives was hosting the world's top
diplomat for the first time and planned to
show him a now-deserted island -- Kolhufushi
-- where all inhabitants are homeless after
the December 26 waves.
Annan was received by Foreign Minister Hasthulla
Jameel and later met at the airport with
World Bank (news - web sites) president James
Wolfensohn, who is wrapping up his own separate
visit of tsunami devastated nations.
"So you have been going through a punishing
pace," Annan, who earlier in the week
had flown over devastated parts of Indonesia,
was heard saying to Wolfensohn.
Annan landed at the Male international airport
located on Hululle island, built by joining
two low-lying coral islands, which also went
under a few feet of water on December 26.
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A speedboat on the pavement |
"This is the first visit by a secretary
general," government spokesman Ahmed
Shaheed said. "We would have preferred
it under different circumstances, but we
want to show him the destruction."
He said infrastructure built over a period
of two decades had been washed away in the
tsunami.
The loss of jetties on smaller islands is
seen as a major blow to economic activity
in far flung regions of the country stretching
850 kilometers (550 miles) across the equator.
Shaheed said Annan would be flown to island
of Kolhufushi, an hour from the capital Male
by plane, where all 878 inhabitants are now
forced to sleep in traditional fishing boats
known as dhonis.
Annan will also fly over Vilufushi where
all 1,156 residents have been moved to four
nearby islands that escaped relatively unaffected
in the sea surge caused by an underwater
earthquake near Indonesia.
The death toll in the Maldives is 82 while
26 people are still reported missing, but
the authorities estimate they need at least
1.5 billion dollars for urgent relief and
reconstruction work.
Maldivian officials said replacement costs
in the Maldives were higher than anywhere
else in the region because the nation depended
on imports for virtually everything.
The country imports all building materials
and relies on expensive foreign labour in
the construction industry.
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