(MENAFN- The Peninsula) India and Sri Lanka airlifted drinking water to the Maldives yesterday after a fire at a desalination plant led to severe shortages and triggered unrest on the streets of the honeymoon islands' capital.
Authorities declared a "disaster situation" after the fire on Thursday led to a drinking water crisis on the main island of Male, one of the world's most densely populated capitals.
Much of the capital was still without drinking water yesterday and local media reported that angry residents fought and attacked shops that rationed mineral water, while hotels in Male said supplies were rapidly running out.
However, the crisis has not affected the atoll nation's upmarket tourist resorts, located on other islands, which by law have their own power generation and desalination plants.
India's air force flew bottled water onto the tiny island as authorities scrambled to repair the damage to the plant. Neighbouring Sri Lanka also air lifted 100,000 bottles of water, officials said.
"We have mounted an enormous effort in our assistance to provide a... close partner of India in its hour of need," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in New Delhi.
"A total of five flights will carry a total of 200 tonnes of drinking water today. We will have another five flights tomorrow.
"We have also made arrangements for two ships to move to (the) Maldives."
Speaking to reporters in Colombo, a foreign ministry official said that the Sri Lankan government was "sending water as well as equipment needed to carry out urgent repairs to the water supply system".
A report in Minivan News, a private Maldivian website, said the damage to the water purification plant could take up to five days to repair.
"I think the situation is more serious than the government is admitting," a resident said, declining to be identified.
"We had water on tap for about an hour this morning, but that is hardly adequate."
Security forces were distributing water free of charge on the island, which measures just one square-mile (two square kilometres) and is home to some 120,000 residents.
Activists said only those able to produce a Maldivian identity card were eligible for the free supplies, meaning thousands of migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were being left out.
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