Maldivian
Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel said on Sunday the
death toll and damage in the Indian Ocean could have been
minimised if authorities had been alerted when the tsunamis began after
an undersea earthquake near Indonesia.
"The research and information is there. But
unfortunately the international scientific community works in strange
ways. They don't want to share their information with us," Jameel told
AFP.
"No one told us about the tsunami. We were hit one
and half hours after Sri Lanka. No one alerted us. Sri Lanka itself was
hit several hours after the earthquake and I presume no one told them
either."
Official figures show 82 people were killed and 26
reported missing in the Maldives when the
26 December tsunamis swept across the Indian Ocean, killing
nearly 160,000 people.
Tourists invited
Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said the
best way foreigners could help his country's recovery effort was by
spending their holidays in this country, known as one of the most
exotic tourist destinations in Asia.
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Most of Maldives' islets are less
than a metre above sea level |
Jameel
said the seven-member South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation,
which had been due to hold a summit in Dhaka Sunday, would now discuss
the tsunami tragedy affecting four member states when they hold the
rescheduled meet on 7 February.
However, he said a SAARC initiative alone to set up an early warning system would be insufficient.
The minister called for a wider effort to involve all Indian Ocean states.
Sea walls needed
"Having an early warning itself is not enough. Even
if we get an early warning, where can we go? Climb a coconut
tree?" Jameel said, adding that sea walls needed to be built on
the main island Male.
He said if the Maldives had been alerted to the
impending sea surge on December 26, they would have been better
prepared to meet the disaster as people on the beaches could have been
warned.
The Maldives is a low-lying nation of 1192 coral
islands scattered about 850km across the equator and most of the islets
are less than a metre above sea level.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is due to visit
Vilufushi island, whose all 1156 residents have been moved out to four
nearby islands that escaped relatively unscathed.