Rebuilding an Island

Posted on July 14th, 2009 by Eric Porterfield

When the 2004 Tsunami hit countries from Southeast Asia to East Africa, the waves went directly over the islands in the Maldives, killing 108 people and destroying nearly 8,000 houses.

Kandholhudhoo was one of the most devastated islands. More than 4,000 residents lost their entire community – houses, schools, restaurants, and shops. They were relocated to five neighboring islands while the Red Cross built a new community on the island of Dhuvaafaru.

Watch this video to see what the island of Dhuvaafaru looks like today and meet a family I had the chance to get to know while I was there.

Filed under: International

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5 Responses to “Rebuilding an Island”

  1. Claire Sale, on July 15th, 2009 at 10:35 am Said:

    Hi Eric– looks like the tsunami recovery program is doing amazing work. Love the video!

    -Claire

  2. » Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, on July 15th, 2009 at 11:26 pm Said:

    [...] entire communities, check out this video from our colleague Eric Porterfield’s visit to the island the Red Cross rebuilt for tsunami [...]

  3. Maldivian Patroit, on July 16th, 2009 at 7:13 am Said:

    we thank the RCRC movement for helping and now we have the Maldivian Red Cresent Society.

  4. Michael, on July 21st, 2009 at 9:15 pm Said:

    Nice video, Eric. Congrats on the great work you and the Red Cross are doing.

  5. Dan Curtiss, on July 28th, 2009 at 6:40 am Said:

    Hi Eric,

    Thanks for the video, really helps to show the amount of work that has gone into the tsunami aid response here in the Maldives.

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