Tsunami 2004: Kandholhudhoo people remain refugees, 15 years on

The tsunami which hit the Indian Ocean on December 26, 2004 had washed away traces of the island which the people of R. Kandholhudhoo had called home, wave by wave. The survivors were rendered refugees and had to be relocated to neighboring islands. It has been 15 years since the tsunami took the lives of their loved ones and destroyed their home island. The people of Kandholhudhoo continue to struggle to overcome their grief and come to terms with their new reality.

After the tsunami destroyed Kandholhudhoo, its people dispersed to neighboring islands, and to homes of relatives and friends in other islands across Maldives

Five years later, in 2009, the people of Kandholhudhoo were relocated to R. Dhuvaafaru and granted housing there by the State. The main reason why they never felt a sense of belonging in Dhuvaafaru was because it wasn’t the island where they were born and grew up in. Their home island was categorized an uninhabited island by the State. They weren’t granted official residency at their adoptive island and remained refugees.

Maldives has been marking the day of the tsunami as the National Day of Solidarity – in a nod towards the overwhelming display of humanity and solidarity by the Maldivian people in the wake of the disaster – since 2015. The official reception to mark the National Day of Solidarity in 2018 was held in Dhuvaafaru. Concern over the continued refugee status of the Kandholhudhoo people was brought to the attention of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih when he visited Dhuvaafaru to attend the reception. The Dhuvaafaru Council made an official request with the President to grant the Kandholhudhoo people official residency in Dhuvaafaru.

“We are registered to Kandholhudhoo. It’s an uninhabited island. We have been living here [in Dhuvaafaru] for 10 years now. My youngest had been a seventh grader when the tsunami struck. Now my youngest is married and has children. The children, too, are registered to Kandholhudhoo,” said a woman who was relocated to Dhuvaafaru from Kandholhudhoo, in 2018.

The State listened to their concern and began transferring the registration of the State-built houses in Dhuvaafaru to the Kandholhudhoo people they house.

The State built 676 houses in Dhuvaafaru, which has a population of approximately 5,000 people. These three-bedroom houses were allocated based on the size of individual families. The families have since grown. The children of the Kandholhudhoo people now have their own children – creating a housing crisis.

The Dhuvaafaru Council established specific policies, and began offering registration services in August, 2019, after its previous attempt fell through following concerns raised by families over lack of confidence in the process.

While registration services are once again available, they continue to be labelled as residents of Kandholhudhoo on their national identity cards.

“I believe we can only assume permanent residency when we have our Dhuvaafaru address on our ID cards,” said Ibrahim Naseer, President of Dhuvaafaru Council.

He said that the Dhuvaafaru Council office was severely understaffed. The council has just five administrative staff members to manage the affairs of over 5,000 people.

He named this as the biggest challenge getting the paperwork done to change the permanent address on the national identity cards.

“For a change in the registration of residences to be official, the information of the ID cards also need to change, right? We have raised this with the government,” said Naseer.

Naseer said the council held discussions regarding changing the permanent address on national identity cards with the administrative staff as recent as last Wednesday.

He said the council was facing several challenges in managing the registration process.

“For instance, in a household made up of 12 or eight family members, we need their unanimous agreement as to whom, or who and who the house should be registered to. Some of the people live in Male’ or abroad. We require statements from all of them to transfer the registration,” said Naseer.

He noted that while the recent amendment to Decentralization Act empowered councils to hire its own administrative staff, it will take another month before the amendment comes into effect.

He said that he hoped to be able to hire additional support and change the addresses on national identity cards as soon as possible, without having to wait for the amendment to take effect.

Registration of 17 houses have been transferred since the process started in August.

The tsunami of 2004 killed three members of the tight-knit community of Kandholhudhoo. While they may have relocated to another island out of sheer necessity, their hearts remain at their home island. However, Kandholhudhoo is no longer as its people remember it. Foliage has grown to fill the places where the Kandholhudhoo people had once slept, ate, laughed and cried in. Some continue to visit the island from time to time. Their hearts heavy with the realization they will never relive the lives they lost in unforgiving waves of the tsunami.