The Maldivian government called yesterday for international help for people displaced in the worst flooding in the Maldives since the deadly 2004 tsunami.
The UN said 1,650 people were evacuated and 217 homes damaged when large waves hit 35 islands and 13 atolls last week, causing widespread flooding.
The South Asian nation needs international aid because tsunami reconstruction work has drained government coffers, government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said, adding that many people have started to repair and clean up their homes.
"There was no loss of life, but flooding caused extensive damage, especially to structures of houses, furniture and personal properties," Mohamed said by telephone from Male, the capital of the Maldives.
"Except for the tsunami in 2004, the Maldives have never before faced such widespread and simultaneous flooding of so many islands," Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes said in a statement. "If required, the UN stands ready to help the country respond to this environmental emergency."
The Maldives government also made a formal appeal to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to help, UN humanitarian officials said.
There are 290,000 people living in the Maldives, a string of Indian Ocean atolls southwest of the southern tip of India made up of some 1,200 islands.
One of the lowest-lying countries in the world, officials estimated that up to 40 percent of the Maldives was underwater in the days following the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
The US will help bolster the Philippines’ arsenal and step up joint military exercises, Manila’s defense chief said, as tensions between Washington and China escalate. The longtime US ally is expecting a sustained US$500 million in annual defense funding from Washington through 2029 to boost its military capabilities and deter China’s “aggression” in the region, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro said in an interview in Manila on Thursday. “It is a no-brainer for anybody, because of the aggressive behavior of China,” Teodoro said on close military ties with the US under President Donald Trump. “The efforts for deterrence, for joint resilience
RSS