The
archipelago of Maldive islands in the Indian ocean is famous for its
picturesque beaches with silver white sands and azure blue seas.
Tourism is the main industry in Maldives. Huge number of tourists
from all corners of the world arrive and stay on these islands every
year. Male, the Maldives' capital, is located on a low-lying island
in the Indian Ocean that has no natural water source and depends
entirely on treated sea water. Maldives Water and Sewerage Company
operates the desalination plant to provide potable water to Male.
Alarm
bells started ringing in Male on Thursday, 4th
December 2014, as the generator unit of the desalination plant
caught fire and burned, that resulted in complete stoppage of the
desalination plant, leaving close to 150,000 Male residents, without
water in their homes. Initially, the government provided bottled
drinking water free of charge but the people struggled without enough
water for washing. The crowds became restive and long queues formed
over the water crisis. The situation was leading to a crisis as the
Maldive Government realised that it may take days to resume
operations in the treatment plant because destroyed parts need to be
brought in from abroad.
It was
then that Maldives, according to local media reports, put a request
call to India, Sri Lanka, the US and even China, but nothing much
moved. Around 10 PM on Thursday (4th
December 2014) night, Maldives foreign affairs minister Duniya
Maumoon, who is also the daughter of the former president Abdul
Gayoom, put in a distress call to India's External affairs minister
Sushama Swaraj to say that Male was in state of emergency as its
100,000 residents were left without drinking water after the
desalination plant there stopped working.
Sushma
Swaraj, discussed the issue with Prime Minister Modi and after that
things started moving quickly. By morning of Friday, 5th
December, an Indian air force IL-76 plane loaded with 20 tonnes of
fresh potable water, landed in Male, bringing immediate relief to
people of male. This was followed by more flights by IAF heavy-lift
aircraft such as C-17 and by Friday evening, India sent 200 tonnes
of drinking water through five sorties of IAF aircraft. This was
followed by another 5 flights on Saturday, 6th
December 2014, when another 200 tonnes of potable water reached
Maldives to thwart off immediate crisis.
India
also diverted a naval patrol vessel INS Sukanya to Male. It has
reached Male on Friday night (5th
Decemeber 2014 itself). It was carrying 35 tonnes of fresh water and
has two reverse osmosis (RO) plants onboard which have a capacity of
producing 20 tonnes of fresh water per day. a large tanker vessel,
INS Deepak, which can carry 800 tonnes of water has also set sail
from Mumbai to Male, a distance of 910 nautical miles. Navy's
destroyer INS Kolkata also sailed for Male with 120 tonnes of water
and has 3 RO plants on board. Two offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) have
been kept on standby for any future requirements.
Other
countries too have now started responding to Male requests. Sri Lanka
has began airlifting bottled water on Friday. China and the United
States are also rushing help, the government said. China’s
state-run news agency Xinhua is reporting that two Chinese military
aircraft carrying 40 tonnes of drinking water were expected to arrive
in the early hours on Monday (8th December) having
departed for the island nation on Sunday night. Besides, a marine
rescue vessel of the Chinese Navy has been sent to dispatch 1,000
tonnes fresh water to Male on Friday, for a scheduled 3 am (local
time) arrival on Monday.
Even
as help came, much of the capital still remained without drinking
water even on Saturday, 6th
December 2014. Street scuffles broke out on Friday at many places
where authorities were distributing bottled water under a strict
ration system. More than a third of the local population of 330,000
Sunni Muslims, live in Male, which covers an area of just one square
mile. There are thousands of expatriate workers from Bangladesh,
India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. There were reports that the
foreign labourers were denied water at some distribution centres.
Later the distribution was improved.
On 7th
December, India delivered about 1,000 tonnes of fresh water to the
Maldivian capital. INS Deepak, a large fleet tanker carrying 900
tonnes of water from Mumbai reached Male on Sunday evening. INS
Deepak is capable of producing 100 tonnes of water every day. INS
Sukanya also has already transferred approximately 65 tonnes of fresh
water till Sunday evening.
There
is no doubt that India was best placed amongst all other countries to
whom Maldives had approached for help. Yet it should be appreciated
that India was quick to respond to the needs of a small country in
the neighbourhood, which is a member of SAARC (South Asian Asociation
for regional cooperation). A friend in need is friend indeed.
9th
December 2014
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