Higher ground

摘要

As well as restoring the islands' natural defences, the Maldivian government is relocating vulnerable populations to houses built further inland on previously uninhabited islands. The first such "designer island", Dhuvaafaru Island in Raa Atoll, was unveiled in March this year. Formerly an uninhabited forest, the entire island was razed, and a new village built from scratch for 4000 survivors from Kandholhudhoo, an island left uninhabitable by the 2004 tsunami.