Comprised of 1,190 coral islands with an average height above sea level of just 1.8 metres and dispersed across 900 kilometres of the Indian Ocean, The Maldives is home to some 290,000 people scattered across 200 of its 199 islands. Prior to the Tsunami of December 24th, 2004, The Maldives had achieved considerable social and economic success and had just been recommended for graduation from its status as one of the Worlds Least Developed Countries by the UN in light of its high levels of education and literacy rates, declining rates of infant and maternal mortality rates and its strong advocacy for global environmental protection.
In this context, the Tsunami represented the worst possible disaster for The Maldives either partially or wholly flooding all but nine of the inhabited islands, forcing some 29,000 people to leave their homes and directly impacting over one third of the population. In total, 82 lives were lost and 26 are still missing presumed dead.