RECOVERY OF SMALL ISLAND STATES

 

By Jasmin Mehovic and Janaki Blum, SARID, December 30, 2004

 

(For latest developments in Sri Lanka please contact Vinod Moonesinghe, Sri Lanka Project Leader for SARID, at vkm@sltnet.lk)

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations International Meeting on Small Island Developing States, Anwarul K. Chowdhury, extended his deepest sympathies to the people and governments of the countries affected by the disaster, and especially to the small island developing States. “Destruction of life and property to the low-lying coastal areas, once again highlights the vulnerability of the small island developing States”, he said on Thursday.

 

Referring to the impact of this disaster, Mr. Chowdhury cited the example of the Maldives, which has shown remarkable economic progress in the past, but now faces a serious setback.

 

Maldivian Ambassador Mohammed Latheef told reporters earlier this week that many of 1,200 Maldives islands may have been washed away forever. "Being very small islands, they washed away very quickly. Quite a few were under water. Nineteen islands.  These islands are scattered on 90,000 square kilometers…so logistics and communication is very difficult in the Maldives," Latheef noted.

 

India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which consists of some 572 low-lying islands, are also hit hard. On Car Nicobar, the worst affected island anybody knows about, half the population, or some 10,000 people, are missing.  It is feared some indigenous tribes may have been decimated by the sea surges, such as the Shompen aborigines, who number just 100 people, and Sentinelese, who are probably the world's only surviving paleolithic people.

 

Many of the remote islands, sitting above the major fault line, remain under water and officials have been unable to make contact with the inhabitants. The BBC's Geeta Pandey reports that relief operations will be slow to reach many areas because the only access is by sea. Even on the islands that teams have been able to reach, she said, the dense jungle makes its difficult to locate groups of survivors and to get help to them.

 

U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland also raised concerns about the help to the people on the affected islands. "It will take maybe 48 to 72 hours more to be able to respond to the tens of thousands of people who would like to have assistance today - or yesterday, rather," Mr. Egeland told reporters.

 

UN officials note that international response to the disaster has been overwhelmingly positive. However, they predicted that it will take an unprecedented international help to bring life on the affected islands back to normal.

 

The tourism industry, which suffered most of the damage in dollar terms, is bracing for a further crisis, as a number of countries, including the US and UK, announced travel advisories, urging their citizens to avoid Sri Lanka, Maldives and parts of Thailand until January 25. The UK has warned against travel to the Maldives, Australia, coastal Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India (Andaman and Nicobar islands) and Malaysia.

 

Mr. Chowdhury called on countries to support the recovery efforts of small islands, noting that it will be the main point of the United Nations International Meeting on Small Island Developing States that will take place in Mauritius next January. "I would like to draw international attention to the need to join forces to support small island states with their recovery efforts and tangibly assist them in improving their economies,” Mr. Chowdhury concluded.