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A 'red carpet' welcome to Miss France contestants

 
Maldives offered the warmest welcome to participants of Miss France 2011, the organising committee said Thursday.

Special Envoy to the President Ibrahim Hussein Zaki, Tourism Minister Dr Mariam Zulfa, Sunland Hotel Directors and senior officials of Maldives Tourism Promotion Board (MTPB) welcomed the 33 participants on Thursday. Cultural activities were also held at Male International Airport.

Organising Committee General Manager Sylvie Celia told journalists that Maldives offered an extraordinary welcome.

“This is the best welcome we received in the past five years that we have been working with this company. The red carpet welcome, the small children there and Maldives is very beautiful,” Celia, who won the Miss France title in 2002, said.

“The photos taken in Maldives will be published on a French magazine from today onwards. The event is very much supported by the French public.”

Miss France 2010 Melaka Menard said she never expected such a welcome from Maldives.

“This is the first time I have been in the Maldives. I am very pleased to be here. Maldives offered us a very warm welcome. After the trip I will talk about Maldives in France,” she said.

Miss France 2011 partner, Sunland Hotels, brought over 80 people along with the 33 contestants.

A Sunland Travels official said a fashion show would be held in Coco Palm Boduhithi where the candidates will be staying from November 11-18.

“Australian swimming wear and Maldivian designers’ dresses will be shown at the fashion show,” the official said.

According to Sunland Hotels, video and photo sessions and learning to cook Maldivian dishes will take place in Coco Palm.

The Miss France 2011 contest will be held on December 4 in Caen, France.

Maldives also hosted a Miss World event earlier. 

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Hundreds take part in tsunami drill in HulhuMeedhoo


Panic spread among the hundreds of people along Bahaaudheen Magu Saturday, as the tranquil morning was shattered by a loud boom, followed by a magnitude-8.7 earthquake near Nicobar Island at 9:40am.
The panic grew as the tsunami siren wailed from HulhuMeedhoo, warning that the quake could potentially cause a tsunami. People wasted no time in leaving their children in the school and ran in a chaotic crowd to the nearest evacuation facilities setup in Hulhudhoo Football Ground.
There was, of course, no tsunami that day: The excitement was part of a tsunami drill program jointly conducted by Maldives Meteorological Service (MMS) and Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (adpc).
Hundreds of people namely students, parents, police and MNDF personnel were involved in the drill, many of whom could not stop from crying in real panic. "I'm still traumatized by the 2004 tsunami," one resident, Aisha, said as she fled. "I just don't want it to happen again."
The minister of state for National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) Mr. Abdulla Shaid said the drill was important for all those living in tsunami-prone regions. "Through the drill we learn what we should do when disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis hit," he said.
Mr.S H M Fakhruddin, a technical specialist of adpc, said many lessons could be learned from the drill, including identifying weaknesses in the disaster handling system."The drill has shown us many things we have to fix in the future, but they are all still within the tolerable limits," Fakhuruddin said. He praised the MMS administration's initiative in conducting the drill, which, he said, was a "breakthrough".
This is the first drill of its sort in the Maldives and MMS in association with adpc will conduct further disaster-handling simulations in various islands across the country. According to MMS they are planning to conduct similar simulation drill in Fuvahmulah next year.
Fakhuruddin said the evaluation of the tsunami drill conducted in HulhuMeedhoo on Saturday would be used as a reference for tsunami handling for other islands and countries whose territory lies on the Indian Ocean. He added the event would also be held in memory of the 2004 tsunami.

Some of the pics from the drill






















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Police arrests a burglar red handed

Police have arrested a 25 year old youth in connection with an attempt of burglary on Finifenmaa Store around 23:40 hrs last night. The burglar was caught red handed while trying to break down the door of the shop. According to the owner of the shop the burglar was Abdulla Wasiq of Kudhimaage, S.Hulhudhoo.

Finifenmaa Store has become the center of attention of all the drug addicts out on the streets of Hulhudhoo for ages. In the last six months the shop was robbed twice. The owner of the shop Mr. Solih explained as saying “a burglar, a drug addict, attempted to enter into the Finifenmaa Store by breaking the door lock”. He added that the thief used a screw driver and a hammer to break the lock before police arrived and took him under their custody.

Mr. Solih stated that the same guy broke in to his home recently and got away with a Pocket PC and a Sony Cybershot camera. He complained that police has released him without sending the case to prosecutor general’s office. According to police they had not gained adequate evidences against the suspect for prosecution.

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The shocking news of death of the 14-year-old Seenu Atoll School boy, Yoonus Hussain left entire Hulhumeedhoo gripped in grief


The death of the 14-year-old Seenu Atoll School Grade 8 boy, Yoonus Hussain, has left entire Hulhumeedhoo gripped in grief. He died of drowning into the channel, which is being excavated between Meedhoo and Hera, on Sunday evening around 15:45 hrs. Hulhudhoo Meedhoo Hospital confirmed his demise shortly after he was brought there.
Yoonus Hussain, along with five of his class mates, went for swimming to the channel between Meedhoo and Hera after coming from school. According to one of his companion, they were playing fun games in the channel before Yoonus Hussain and he drowned into a deep dugout. “Yoonus Hussain was already dead when he was taken out from water“an eyewitness said. According to reliable sources within Meedhoo, Yoonus Hussain did not know swimming or his friends who accompanied with him.
Today it has become an obligatory measure for schools, NGOs and other responsible authorities to make people aware about safety at sea. Learning to swim must be made compulsory within school levels and special training programs need to be conducted. Similar cases of deaths occur very often throughout the nations but people pay little or no attention whatsoever.

12:20 AM | Posted in , , | Read More »

FSM to setup fuel storage tanks in Hulhumeedhoo


Fuel Supplies Maldives have signed contract with southern province office yesterday to set up a fuel storage facility in Hulhumeedhoo. The contract was signed by the Deputy Managing Director of FSM Ibrahim Ziyath and Addu Atoll Councilor, Mr. Abdull Sadiq.
Storage facility would be set up adjacent to Public Works unit of Hulhumeedhoo and it is the most desirable place for setting up the facility. FSM requires 4900f2 of land for this facility. High profile citizens from Hulhumeedhoo along with their respective Island Chiefs accompanied the delegation of FSM to observe the site.
According to FSM the main aim of the storage facility is to make fuel available to Hulhumeedhoo community as they are distributed elsewhere in Addu. FSM have set up similar storage tanks in Hithadhoo and local distributors buy in abundance to resell to the public. FSM also indicated that the storage facility is temporary and will be replaced with a new facility close to the proposed jetty which would be common to Hulhudhoo and Meedhoo.
Setting up a fuel storage facility in Hulhumeedhoo would ease the shortage of fuel supplies in Hulhumeedhoo whereas community would enjoy reduced expenditure on fuel.

12:04 PM | Posted in , , , | Read More »

Are we negligent about birth of world class tourism in Addu?

Tourism and hotel management is synonymous with Addu people since its birth in 1972. Tens of thousands of Addu people work at different hierarchical levels of tourism industry in the country. As the geography of the atoll and political stand of former administration hindered growth of tourism in Addu, children’s of Addu, at their very young age, sailed toward jobs in the hotel and tourism industry across the nation. However tourism has started to take effect in a larger scale in 2006 when Maldives Tourism Development Corporation made $44million investment to develop Herathera Island Resort, which latter failed to harbor the need of Addu community at large. Today one would wonder why on earth the people so dedicated to tourism is incapable of helping $100million worth investment by Shangri-La at Viligili?

Shangri-La Maldives Resort & Spa at Viligili, which is due to open in July 10, 2009, is seeking 30,000 m3 of white sand to develop its beach. According to Shangri-La, they would be able to open the hotel for business in July only if they get the required amount of white sand before monsoon. Dr. Simad Saeed, while meeting with the members of Hulhudhoo Island Development Committee and vessel owners last night, stated that Shangri-La might have to postpone the opening of the hotel until January next year if the problem of making beach is not resolved.

The quality and the quantity of white sand required by Shangri-La are available within Addu’s vast shallow lagoon west of Meedhoo “the Kedevaa Hera”. Kedevaa Hera is the area decreed by the members of Atoll Development Committee for extracting sand for civilian purposes and during the development phase of Herathera huge amount of sands were sold to Herathera by a group of Meedhoo people. Hulhudhoo Today has learnt on various occasions that two different parties had failed their attempt to extract sand from Kedevaa Hera and sell them to Shangri-La for unidentifiable reasons. Certainly the crux of the problem here is the huge amount of money involved in supply of white sand to Viligili and every party wants to grab most share of it. Ultimately none of the parties are able to undertake the project alone due to the pressure from other parties and islands.

Indeed, opening of Shangri-La Maldives Resort & Spa at Viligili is a long lasting dream of Addu people. Members of Hulhudhoo Island Development Committee and vessel owners collectively agreed that they are ready to accept extracting sand from Hulhudhoo lagoon. “Extracting sand might cause environmental degradations in the long run, but if Shangri-La guarantees environmental safety they could dug out sand from Hulhudhoo” stated committee. Committee further stated that Shangri-La could also dig the channel leading to deep sea as it has become shallow. “The channel needs to be dug 1.5 meters out to allow easy passage of the huge fishing vessels and cargo boats and I think Shangri-La would get huge amount of sand from there itself, apart from the proposed area for harbor”, suggested a member.
Dr. Simad Saeed, acknowledging the voice of committee and vessel owners being unified decision of Hulhudhoo community, stated that he would deliver this positive and uniform feedback to Shangri-La and that he would arrange a meeting with Shangri-La to further discuss the matter. He also assured to bring it to the attention of Shangri-La that none of the Hulhudhoo personals are taken for jobs at Viligili.

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Shangri-La Maldives ‘sand examinations’ stopped


Two huge burgesses with heavy load pumps and excavators are stopped from extracting sands from Meedhoo lagoon by a group of Meedhoo people yesterday. Extractions of sand are believed to be used for making the beach of Shangri-La Maldives at Villingili.
Shangri-La needs huge metric tons of sand for making its beach. Shangri-La has not contracted out the project to any of the local extractors to supply sand, but there are reports that few of the locals are selling sand to the resort. During early March a group of people had called on the province office to bring a halt on illegal extracting and selling of sand from Hithadhoo lagoon.
However Hulhudhoo office had offered to make a deal with Shangri-La recently. According to that, Shangri-La pumps out as much sand as they want from a specified area which Hulhudhoo people could develop as their port. Further it said that they should sheet-pile the harbor and dug a channel.
Last week a fleet of two huge burgesses with pumps and excavators sailed across the face of Hulhudhoo towards “Kedevaahera” where predominantly Meedhoo people extract sands for civilian and small scale business purposes. News then spread across Addu that they are undertaking sand examinations, however a group of Meedhoo people sailed to them and denied their undertakings.
White sand has become scarce in the region and extracting and transporting them from other atolls in the country would cost millions of dollars. Gdh. Fares-Maathoda is ready to supply as much sand as required by Shangri-La, however the cost of transporting and other logistics makes the project volatile. Unless the issue of getting required amount of sand is solved the dream of opening the seven star resort at Villigili will remain a shattered dream.

1:53 PM | Posted in , , | Read More »

Earth Hour 2009


At 8:30pm on Saturday 28 March millions of people around the world will unite and switch off their lights for one hour, Earth Hour. This event is a global public awareness campaign about the effects of climate change.

In 2009, Earth Hour will take place in more than 80 countries around the world, proving that climate change really is a global threat and that it will take all of us to work together to solve it. We are hoping that Earth Hour reaches one billion people.

Maldives is to mark Earth Hour, an annual event organized by World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) to increase the awareness on the effects of global climate change. The main event will be to switching off non essential lights from 2030 hours to 2130 hours.

1:53 PM | Posted in , , , , | Read More »

Lightening strike on Herathera


A deadly lightening struck the IT Department of Herathera island resort and a fishing vessel in the dock yesterday morning. Network and main server of the hotel was severely damaged and the fishing vessel was taken to Maradhoo Slipway for repairing.
“Network is totally uprooted, PABX system and main server is down since yesterday” reported a Herathera staff. Further he said “phone lines, mobile services and internet access is also down”. According to him they are unable to pursue their normal routine works since the incident occurred yesterday morning.
Hulhudhoo Today has learnt that the vessel was a fishing vessel from Huvadhoo Atoll who had come to sell fish to Herathera.
Lightening has become a threat to Herathera these days. A day before communication and network systems were destroyed by lightening, power house became the victim of it around 3:00am on Monday morning.
According Ibrahim Rasheed, GM of resort, it was unclear what had caused the blackout but believed that lightning strikes over night might have caused some damage to the power generator. He added that they are not able to find any damage or problems with the generator. Read
On the other hand there are rumors that the cause of the blackout on Monday morning was due to running out of fuel in the resort.
The scale of the damage caused by lightening and time for recovery is still uncertain however staffs and management of the hotel is working hard to ease the tensions that might surface up.

11:23 AM | Posted in , , | Read More »

What determines a candidate as best?


The quest for selecting most eligible and most potential candidate as ‘peoples’ envoy’ to the parliament is deviating the actual purpose of their candidacy today. In this year 465 candidates are contesting for 77 constituencies of the parliament and each candidate propagates his or her own way to serve people. Cash rewards, valuable assets, air tickets, job security, family intrusion and illusive obsessions are some of the depraved elements of campaign strategies adopted by most of the candidates in Maldives.
Any candidate elected to the parliament upon aforementioned elements is highly unlikely to represent the public. Indeed, for them their private benefit would outweigh those of public as they would have given bribes in some way or the other to grab most votes.
Today it’s a common phenomenon on the ground and various levels of campaign activities that candidates boast about things they, as natives, have done for the islands in the past. Some candidates claim that they have helped to develop infrastructure of the islands, promoted educational fields, enhanced job opportunities and granted money for the needy. Indeed it’s an obligatory duty of the riches and no candidate should claim parliamentary seat as a reward for that.
Honesty is the basic guide line to become a good MP. A good MP never promises the unattainable nor swank about what he or she has done well for the people in the past. Ability to give tough and rational feedbacks and capacity to reason on issues discussed at parliament floor, free from obsession, is instrumental for a good MP. Academic excellence and professional exposure is necessary to lead arguments at parliament. If he or she is hesitant or incapable of providing adequate justification on his or her believes and thoughts then he is incompetent. In the Maldives, Reeko Moosa Manik and Ibrahim Ismail are the two outstanding members of the parliament who had great hand in shaping and modernizing the constitution of the country.
We hope that our people choose a candidate who is second to none than those mentioned above. This is the first time in the history that a constituency for Hulhumeedhoo is placed and electing the right and competent candidate for the job is essential for the wellbeing of islands and the country at large.

1:05 PM | Posted in , , , , | Read More »

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