It
was like something out of a pyramid construction site in ancient
Egypt: forty people, sweating profusely under the blazing sun,
moving a two-ton generator which resembles a giant granite block.
With no heavy lifting equipment on the tsunami-hit island of
Mataveri, the generator was offloaded from a boat and moved
across the beach using thick wooden planks borrowed from a local
carpenter, wooden levers and plenty of muscle power.
This was one of 17 100 KVA generators supplied by the British
Red Cross to help the people of the Maldives recover from the
December 26 disaster. Many islands have had at best only intermittent
power for the past three weeks.
These giant units are being transported by boat from the capital
Male to islands among the various atolls which have been particularly
hard hit.
A further seven smaller generators supplied by the Belgian Red
Cross have arrived recently and will be distributed in the near
future.
Mataveri’s population of 689 has struggled with intermittent
power supply since December 26.
Two of the island’s three 50 KVA generators do not work
and cabling has been destroyed.
Within a few days of the disaster the Red Cross had done assessments
of the worst hit areas and one of the needs identified was restoration
of power for 30,000 people. The request went out for equipment,
and the kind and quick support of the British and Belgian Red
Cross Societies means the lights are already coming back on
for the people of the Maldives.
The leader of the International Federation’s field assessment
and coordination team (FACT), Renny Nancholas, has been impressed
by the community spirit and enormous support from the public
and government for the Red Cross efforts.
While the Red Cross FACT and regional disaster response team
staff have provided coordination and expertise, only the generous
assistance such as that given by the 40 people on the beach
at Matavari has made much of the relief effort possible.
With no Red Cross national society currently in the Maldives,
Nancholas sees great potential for one to emerge.
“A very strong factor here has been how everyone has pulled
together and helped each other,” he said.
“Teams of volunteers have been going out to islands to
help with the clean-up. People here are very community orientated,
which is a superb base for the future establishment of a national
society. Volunteerism is alive and well in the Maldives.”
The power restoration project is just one of several being conducted
by the Red Cross/Red Crescent in the Maldives. It is also involved
in shelter, health, and water and sanitation activities.
At least 82 people died when the tsunami crashed into the Maldives
on 26 December.
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Moving
the 17 two-ton generators from storage in the capital
Male to the outlying islands presented a huge logistical
challenge. They were loaded onto boats and transported
to badly affected islands (p12523)
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Volunteers
from the local community haul one of the two-ton generators
onto the island of Mataveri (p12524)
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