Detailed island risk assessment in Maldives: Hazard profiles and physical vulnerability Vol 1: Synthesis Report

This report identifies a practical methodology to understand and quantify the natural hazards faced by the proposed safe islands or any inhabited island of Maldives. The findings could be used in enhancing the Safe Island Development Programme and to better understand the hazard exposure in other islands of Maldives. This report also offers Recommendations for Safe Island development based on the physical environment risk assessment and are provided for individual islands.

The report finds that none of the islands in Maldives is safe from the high impact natural hazards facing them. The natural environment is highly resilient to impacts from hazard events, but may not prevent or protect the islands from major hazard events. However, the probabilities of such large scale hazards are low and perhaps unavoidable with any practical level of planning. The majority of present hazards facing Maldives, however, can be avoided through natural resilience, proper land use and artificial means. It is crucial that development activities in Maldives be aligned to consider precarious nature of islands and impacts from natural hazards.