Highlights

The entire land area of the country is only 300 sq km of which some 9 000 hectares are covered with permanent crops dominated by coconuts and only 3 990 hectares are considered arable. Practically no cereals are produced, hence the population of 314 000 is heavily dependent on imported food stuffs. Current imports of wheat and rice are steady at about 45 000 tonnes per annum.

The Maldives has, however, very productive fisheries sector which provides a good source of food locally and income by supplying to the tourism industry which caters for some 700 000 tourists annually.

In brief Programme outcome To support the development and delivery of relevant community-based programmes and services by the Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC). This aims to save lives, reduce and limit the most urgent underlying causes of vulnerability; promote healthy and safe living and mobilize volunteers to support capacity building and the fulfilment of its mandate.

Programme

In Brief

Emergency and Recovery Plan and Budget (Appeal No. 28/2004)

Period covered: December 2004 to December 2012

Appeal coverage: 100% (July 2010)

This report covers the period 1 January to 30 June 2011.

Programme purpose:

To support the development and delivery of relevant community-based programmes and services by the new Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC) national society which aims to save lives, reduce and limit the most urgent underlying causes of vulnerability; promote healthy and safe living; and mobilize volunteers, in a new national society supported to build its capacity to function effectively and fulfil its mandate.

Programme summary:

Period covered by this update: 2 July to 31 July 2011

Summary: CHF 42,600 (USD 50,318 or EUR 34,686) was allocated from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ (IFRC) Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) on 1 July 2011 to support the National Society in delivering assistance to some 190 island community beneficiaries, or to replenish disaster preparedness stocks.

Six years ago, the deadliest tsunami in recorded history swept through coastal areas of Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, India and nine other Indian Ocean countries. Indonesia is now the only country with uncompleted projects against programmatic indicators, as the last reporting period witnessed the full wrapping up of all tsunami programmes in Maldives and the practical completion of the same in Sri Lanka [against indicator objectives], pending formal finalizations and handing over.

Over 4.8 million people have benefited

In brief

Programme purpose: The aim of the International Federation is to coordinate and support efforts at country and regional level to assist South Asian National Societies to scale up their work to improve the lives of vulnerable people.

Programme summary: The regional disaster management (DM) programme focused on meeting challenges arising from vulnerabilities and risks of re-occurring disasters in South Asia. It continued to scale up DM/disaster risk reduction (DRR) approaches to improve quality of the

The South Asia region is home to half of the world's population and is a region of great socio-economic contrasts as well as cultural and political diversity. The region includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and remains one of the most disadvantaged regions of the world. Situated on the most seismic-active crusts on earth, the frequency and magnitude of natural disasters in South Asia is high and continues to increase as a result of rapid and uncontrolled urbanization, deforestation and the effects of climate