Your Excellency, President Yudhoyono, Heads of state and government, the UN Secretary-General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Let me begin by extending my heartfelt condolences to you, Mr. President, and to the people of Indonesia, as you mourn the loss of so many lives.
Material can be replaced. But, not so human life.
I also extend my deep sympathy to the Governments and peoples of Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, and of the other countries affected by the killer wave.
I thank you, Mr. President, for giving me the opportunity to participate in this important special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting in the Aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami. My appreciation also goes to the Prime Minister of Singapore for his initiative. I also thank you, Mr. President, for the warm welcome and the generous hospitality that you have extended to me and my delegation.
Although it is difficult for me to be away from my country, even for a few days, at this hour of national tragedy, I have come here because my people are faced with a catastrophe of epic proportions. Some 15,000, or nearly five percent of my people, are homeless. 4,000 houses have been destroyed. 53 out of the 199 inhabited islands are badly damaged. 19 resorts have been shut down. Many inhabited islands have been turned into complete rubble. The whole nation is deeply traumatised.
I have come here today because we will not be able to recover from this unprecedented disaster by our own efforts. We need massive regional and international assistance, in funds, equipment, and expertise. With each passing day, we are slipping deeper and deeper into a multi-faceted crisis. We estimate that even for emergency relief we require 239 million US dollars, for temporary housing and saving lives and livelihoods.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen;
By the mercy of the Almighty, the human toll in the Maldives, shocking though it is to our small population, is far less than in some of the other affected countries.
However, in proportionate terms, of course, the Maldives may be the worst affected. Even before the tsunami struck, we had been the most vulnerable to the rising seas. In its aftermath, we have become the most severely crippled. We have the least ability to conduct relief and recovery activities. Our unaffected population is so small that it limits our potential to carry out such operations on our own.
And because our islands are self-contained units, there is no back-up infrastructure nearby.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen;
On the morning of 26 December, tidal waves of up to 4 metres struck all parts of the country. Whole communities were washed back and forth by the waves that swept successively from different sides of our tiny islands.
The ecological impact is yet unfathomable. The massive force and pressure of the waves have washed out the topsoil of the islands onto the reefs. The long-term damage of this sudden erosion and silting of the reefs on our agriculture and fisheries is yet to be assessed.
Whole communities have suffered economic ruin. Fishing boats on numerous islands have been damaged, threatening the economic survival of these islands. One of the islands that I visited after the tsunami was an island whose economic lifeblood was its banana crop.
I was shocked to find that the plantain fields had been completely devastated, and that the land had become non-arable. Without jetties, islands lose their trade, especially those who had catered to visitors from resorts. Small businesses, thriving on micro-credit, are among the hardest hit, often with the complete destruction of their investment.
It is imperative that we restore destroyed livelihoods and rehabilitate these economically vibrant islands.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen;
Over the past quarter century, the Maldives has made very good progress. Indeed, after several years of discussion, during which we expressed concern about our vulnerability, the UN General Assembly had decided, just six days before the tsunami struck, that the Maldives qualified to graduate from the UN’s list of least developed countries.
Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen;
The total economic cost for the Maldives of the tsunami’s devastation is estimated to be well over one billion US dollars. For, in a matter of minutes, infrastructure built over two decades of development was largely destroyed.
In this hour of tragedy, our friends and donors have responded quickly and admirably. We thank friendly countries and the international community for the assistance that has been rendered and committed for the relief effort. With their help and through community mobilization, we have been able to ensure that no person had died for want of relief.
Our priorities are rehabilitating the lives and livelihoods of tsunami victims, providing shelter to internally displaced persons, reconstructing and repairing social and economic infrastructure, and generating economic recovery to pre-tsunami levels. A tsunami warning system in Asia is vital. But that alone is not enough. For a country like the Maldives with no high ground or a land mass where people could take shelter when a tsunami warning is made, an alternative and appropriate strategy must be developed and implemented, if we are to save people of the Maldives from any future tsunami.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
In recent decades, we have shown to the world how aid and investment can turn our small, coral islands into a very dynamic economy. We have shown how development has transformed the lives of the people.
We now ask for urgent aid for reconstruction and recovery. Our conservative estimate for reconstruction over the next 3 to 5 years is 1.3 billion US dollars.
The quicker that help, the less we will need of it. And with timely aid, we can rebuild our nation.
Thank you.