NOTIZIE DIRETTAMENTE DA ASDU!!!
Inviato: mar dic 28, 2004 3:10 pm
Eccovele!
Dear Andrea,
Thank you for your concerned inquiry, fortunately for Asdu, the island had been very minimally touched by the destructive Tsunami that washed away many parts of the Asian Coastline. A lot of Maldivian islands had suffered great loss, in some cases destruction of homes in their entirety, due to the force of the tidal wave. The main airport, Male’ International, had been shut down from around mid-morning of the fateful day, 26th December, until the morning of the 27th December, and is now fully functional. Around 6 resorts have been totally damaged, while a lot of local fishing village islands had suffered between 50 to 95% damage to the entire property and buildings on those islands.
At Asdu, we have been blessed by Allah to an extent that I cannot even speak of; we had not even experience or sighted the mass of sea water as tide or wave, the first waves that came our way may have been dampened and its height reduced when the wave approached the shallow continental shelf, and thereafter, its force further reduced by the main coral reef barrier that protects each atoll. Since Asdu is inside an atoll, the force of the wave and its height may have been reduced to a great extent, while those islands on the outer periphery of the atolls would have experienced the actual waves in their full force, height and enormity.
At Asdu, we only experienced the rise of the sea level up to about 50cms on the ground level, and receded almost immediately, having covered 95% of the island for about 5 minutes. The incoming water into the island was without any force; hence the water did not enter our kitchen or the stores at all, leaving all our food and other supplies totally intact. As a precautionary measure, we had shut off the generators thereby cutting off all electricity for about 6 hours, so as to avoid any mishaps due electricity shortages. The island was never out of communication via DC power, and when electricity was re-commenced at sunset, all the basic services such as making of fresh water, flush systems and refrigeration were all back to normal.
At certain points of the island, where the ground level is lower, the water level rose to about 100cm, but lasted no more than 2 to 3 minutes before the water level receded and finally washed off the island totally within 20 minutes.
A second tidal wave approached the island within 25 minutes, this wave, however, did not rise over the normal full moon high tide level; a third wave may have approached, but we on Asdu were not able to recognize any undue change in its height.
As for the effect of the Tsunami tide on Asdu, apart from having covered from 6 inched to 20 inches of water in most of the rooms for 3 to 4 minutes, we have not had any damage to our property, nor were we deprived of any services thereafter. Since the wave that flooded our little island was around 1130 in the morning, our food services were temporarily stopped, to allow the staff to attend to emergencies. However, lunch as usual was served to the guests in the restaurant at 1400 hrs. No other services were delayed or hampered by the slight brace of this natural force of nature that has given us Maldivians a lot of grief, and we continue to serve our people by way of funds, material and clothing.
No staff or guests on Asdu were injured, and nothing was lost or damaged. A negligible amount of personal belongings of the guests in their rooms, left at very low level, may have floated away and therefore misplaced, but to our knowledge it had been only one case of loss of some money left out, while 2 or three guests’ electronic equipment such as cameras or computers were briefly submerged in salt water. In all, we at Asdu are thankful to Allah for His blessing on us, and then to our very kind guests who were sympathetic and understanding in time of our emergency. And we continue to pray for the protection and safety of all those Maldivians and our neighboring Sri Lankans who have suffered great losses at this time.
On Asdu, we are fully normal and functional, and continue to give our services as usual.
Best regards
Ahmed Ismail
Dear Andrea,
Thank you for your concerned inquiry, fortunately for Asdu, the island had been very minimally touched by the destructive Tsunami that washed away many parts of the Asian Coastline. A lot of Maldivian islands had suffered great loss, in some cases destruction of homes in their entirety, due to the force of the tidal wave. The main airport, Male’ International, had been shut down from around mid-morning of the fateful day, 26th December, until the morning of the 27th December, and is now fully functional. Around 6 resorts have been totally damaged, while a lot of local fishing village islands had suffered between 50 to 95% damage to the entire property and buildings on those islands.
At Asdu, we have been blessed by Allah to an extent that I cannot even speak of; we had not even experience or sighted the mass of sea water as tide or wave, the first waves that came our way may have been dampened and its height reduced when the wave approached the shallow continental shelf, and thereafter, its force further reduced by the main coral reef barrier that protects each atoll. Since Asdu is inside an atoll, the force of the wave and its height may have been reduced to a great extent, while those islands on the outer periphery of the atolls would have experienced the actual waves in their full force, height and enormity.
At Asdu, we only experienced the rise of the sea level up to about 50cms on the ground level, and receded almost immediately, having covered 95% of the island for about 5 minutes. The incoming water into the island was without any force; hence the water did not enter our kitchen or the stores at all, leaving all our food and other supplies totally intact. As a precautionary measure, we had shut off the generators thereby cutting off all electricity for about 6 hours, so as to avoid any mishaps due electricity shortages. The island was never out of communication via DC power, and when electricity was re-commenced at sunset, all the basic services such as making of fresh water, flush systems and refrigeration were all back to normal.
At certain points of the island, where the ground level is lower, the water level rose to about 100cm, but lasted no more than 2 to 3 minutes before the water level receded and finally washed off the island totally within 20 minutes.
A second tidal wave approached the island within 25 minutes, this wave, however, did not rise over the normal full moon high tide level; a third wave may have approached, but we on Asdu were not able to recognize any undue change in its height.
As for the effect of the Tsunami tide on Asdu, apart from having covered from 6 inched to 20 inches of water in most of the rooms for 3 to 4 minutes, we have not had any damage to our property, nor were we deprived of any services thereafter. Since the wave that flooded our little island was around 1130 in the morning, our food services were temporarily stopped, to allow the staff to attend to emergencies. However, lunch as usual was served to the guests in the restaurant at 1400 hrs. No other services were delayed or hampered by the slight brace of this natural force of nature that has given us Maldivians a lot of grief, and we continue to serve our people by way of funds, material and clothing.
No staff or guests on Asdu were injured, and nothing was lost or damaged. A negligible amount of personal belongings of the guests in their rooms, left at very low level, may have floated away and therefore misplaced, but to our knowledge it had been only one case of loss of some money left out, while 2 or three guests’ electronic equipment such as cameras or computers were briefly submerged in salt water. In all, we at Asdu are thankful to Allah for His blessing on us, and then to our very kind guests who were sympathetic and understanding in time of our emergency. And we continue to pray for the protection and safety of all those Maldivians and our neighboring Sri Lankans who have suffered great losses at this time.
On Asdu, we are fully normal and functional, and continue to give our services as usual.
Best regards
Ahmed Ismail
