A storm has hit Addu causing islands to flood and severely damaging houses and property on several islands.
Addu Atoll Councilor Abdulla Sadiq said that Gan, Maradhu, Maradhufeydhoo and Feydhoo were flooded due to the torrential rain,’’ Sadiq said, adding that Feydhoo was the most severely damaged with almost 600 houses affected.
70 houses in Maradhufeydhoo and 10 houses in Maradhu were also damaged in the flood, according to Sadiq.
“Almost 80 percent of the houses in Feydhoo were damaged, including property, and some are now inadequate for living,’’ said Sadiq. “People have been forced to move to their relatives’ houses.’’
In Maradhufeydhoo all the computers in the island school, the school library and the school office were damaged, Sadiq said.
The weather forecast for the area showed steady rain for the next few days as well, he added.
“We are trying to drain the floodwaters and settle the situation,’’ he said.
Although Gan was also flooded, the island has a good drainage system and the streets will drain automatically, he added.
He also estimated that the damage was set to rise to millions of ruffiya.
Meanwhile, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) Southern Area reported that the airport and airport office of Gan in Addu were damaged, including the computers and some furniture inside the office.
The MNDF is are now active on the flooded islands and trying to drain the floodwaters.
Deputy Director General of the National Meteorological Department Ali Shareef said the whole of the Maldives will experience heavy rain during the next 24 hours.
”North and central Maldives will experience strong winds and heavy rain,” said Shareef, adding that the Addu Atoll would likely be spared the strong winds and heavy rain that would affect other parts of the country.
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so when is the help addu telethon?
Gan has had a good drainage system for nearly 60 years. Why is that successive governments have failed to provide such a basic service to islands like Feydhoo?
Why is the government eagerly dredging and creating new islands without providing the basic needs of existing islands. This is totally unacceptable.
@Ahmed: My heart goes to the flood victims. May Allah (s.w.) give them victims the ability to be patient, and the fellow Maldivians the ability to give as generously as possible. I was very happy to see CNN covering a story about Maldivians managing few Millions of Rufiyaa to aid the flood victims of Pakistan. The network praised the generosity of Maldivian in helping fellow Muslims who are in need. They were kind of stunned to see the amount of money we donated, compared to the population size and our difficult economic times due to recession and declining number of toursist visiting as a result of credit crunch.
So, I say, the current government will be more responsive in trying to fine-tune its policies towards meeting the needs of Maldivians. It is no longer a one man show.
Having said that, I think, it is time we organize fund-raising for all the victims and try to have better protection. Yet, we must not forget that the measures we take to protect will be insignificant when the fury of nature tries to fight the protection.
Reclaiming areas and finding home for those who have been waiting for 10 years or longer without a home must be a priority. For e.g., the last time plots of land were assigned to people of Haa Alif Dhidhdhoo were in the year 1999. Obviously, the men and women who started families in the past 11 years do not have any plot of land to build their houses, and are living with members of extended family with households having 20 - 40 members in total.
If not for the oppositions blocking of various bills, we would have made money and would be in a better position.
Its time we bill all these demonstrators who uselessly make us spend millions of Rufiyyaa on useless political stunts. We must follow the New York Fire Department and Police's footsteps -- they billed the Pastor Terry Jones for all the security needed to protect his church and others due to the planned "Qur'an Burning".
We are more concerned about things going around in other countries and we always ignore our own problems. Do we have capabilities to help Pakistan or Palestine, no. See how many Maldivians are there without basic needs.
When you see such things you understand that you can do nothing about it. You can only watch. Once I saw such view and it was not very good feeling inside.
I want a say from Islamic Ministry.
Is this a punishment from above? Like you said for the Katrina victims, like you said for the Haiti catastrophe, like the Saudi's initial response to Indian Ocean Tsunami?
Please, please issue a Religious notice on this as well!!
Once again I hear of the tragedies of the good people of Addu Atoll. Optimistically I thought that when Anni became President there would be an overall change in the social welfare.
In most organised countries when a national tragedy occurs, the infrastructure comes into play and resources are diverted to the area to alleviate the suffering of the locals.
I was stationed at RAF Gan in 72.
That is back in the days when the RAF looked after the good people of Addu.
My heart goes out to the people and their families.
It is about time the Maldivian government to off their backsides and did something constructive. Like now!
Hello to all my friends on Addu,,may I wish you good luck with your government in your time of need.At least you have a chance of help with your new President,but does your government have planning for these type of emergencies,that is equipment stores on various islands ie pumps/sandbags/generators/medical supplies.We remember from long ago that Addu was always last on the list for getting things done.I suggest that now is the time for your Atoll leaders to demand at least equality with the northern islands.I noticed from a previous post that you Maldivians had raised lots of money for the Pakistan floods,,keep your fingers crossed and hope money can also be raised to help you in your time of need,after all charity begins at home doesn't it???..Best wishes from England and the men who served on Gan..PS don't be too proud to ask for help...
Like my friends above, i was in Gan in 1972 with the RAF. My thoughts and best wishes go out to you all, and hope that between you all, you can come through this safely, and if your ingenuity and resolve stillk existgs today, as it did when we were there, then i'm sure that all will be well eventually, but as previous posts have implied, whilst sympathising with the Pakistan situation, you must look after yourselves first and foremost.
Like my friends on the above posts, I was lucky enough to have been posted to Gan in 1972. My heart goes out to all the people of Addu, and I will be hoping that things get better over the next few days. I hope that the help you so obviously need will arrive soon. Best wishes from Scotland to all the inhabitants of Addu Atoll.
I also served with the RAF on Gan in 1967, and returned in March this year for our reunion. I will never forget the tremendous welcome given to us by all the people of Addu. You do not deserve the to be in the terrible situation that you now find yourselves. I hope and trust that you will soon get all the help you need to recover from this catastophe. best wishes to you all.