The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Close shave for Commonwealth team in Maldives

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Close shave for Commonwealth team in Maldives

By Ravi Reddy

HYDERABAD, DEC. 27. A five-member Commonwealth election observers' team in Maldives, including former bureaucrat, Jayaprakash Narayan, had a close encounter with the devastating tsunami that hit the island nation on Sunday.

The delegation had been put up at the Hululle, a tiny airport island near the capital, Male, to oversee the general elections scheduled for December 31, when the tsunami hit the island chain. The team was led by the former President of Mauritius, Cassem Utheem and comprised the Australian Election Commissioner, Andy Baker, the British Labour MP, James Fitzpatrick, the Bangladesh MP, Mahi Choudhary, besides Mr. Narayan, who is the coordinator of Lok Satta, a watchdog panel.

"We had left Hululle by boat to reach Male, a kilometre away, before the tidal wave slammed the island. At that time, the height of the waves was not more than two metres," Mr. Narayan said. "We missed the disaster by just 20 minutes," is how he recalled the near encounter while speaking to The Hindu from Hululle on Monday night.

"We were in a meeting when the Election Commissioner informed us about the calamity," he said, adding that the tsunami hit Maldives at about 9.20 a.m. local time. "As we came out of the meeting, we saw three-fourths of the capital submerged in sea water."

Mr. Narayan quoted the Maldives Election Commissioner as saying that "for a moment we thought the entire nation would disappear."

Polls postponed

He said the situation in the atolls was still worse. "As the communication network had snapped, there was no information about the situation there." The Maldives Government had officially announced that 46 persons had perished in the disaster.

Mr. Narayan said the tsunami had forced postponement of the general elections.

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