By Amal Jayasinghe
Male - The Maldives has lifted its post-tsunami ban on sea bathing at the archipelago's artificial beach but the islanders are giving it a wide berth, fearing a return of the giant waves.
As much as the Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands, is fabled for sandy beaches that woo honeymooners, about one-third of the country's population must do with a fake seashore. But even that is now seen as a threat.
"We used to have 400 to 500 people bathing here on a Friday, but now hardly anyone gets into the water," said lifeguard Ali Ibrahim, 29, putting his feet beside a sea water pool empty of people.
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'We used to have 400 to 500 people bathing here' For a full three weeks after the December 26 tsunamis inundated much of the low-lying nation, the government decreed it too dangerous to venture even onto the artificial beach. The ban was lifted this week.
"People are naturally afraid," Ibrahim said, as two of his colleagues nodded in agreement.
The $10-million artificial beach in this sea-walled capital was made in 1998 by allowing a narrow opening to the Indian Ocean to create some ripples on reclaimed land on the eastern edge of the capital island.
The man-made beach is paved with metal stones imported from Malaysia, fringed with 14 coconut palms, the national tree of the archipelago and sprinkled with generous amounts of white sand to make it look real.
Since it was opened, two children have drowned in the semi-circular area, barely the size of a football field, Ibrahim recalls. But he says the fresh fears are of another giant wave.
The secluded desert islands with crystal clear lagoons and rainbow-hued corals and fish At the time the fake beach was made, the then public works minister Umar Zahir said pressure on land deprived the 70 000 inhabitants here of the luxury of a beach, but the government was keen to give them at least an artificial one.
"We may have the best beaches in the world but we did not have a beach here in Male because that is the price we had to pay for development," Zahir said at the time.
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