The purpose of this island report is to provide a detailed assessment of the social and economic
vulnerability to natural hazards in Vilufushi, Thaa Atoll. This report covers the following aspects of
Vilufushi.
i. baseline socio-economic conditions of the island in 2008,
ii. Socio-economic vulnerability characteristics,
iii. Potential consequences of a future disaster,
iv. Recommendations to address some of the key vulnerabilities and,
v. Preliminary costs and benefits of potential mitigation measures.
This report is a continuation of the Disaster Risk Assessment of Maldives (DIRAM) Project. Past
components of this project, namely physical environment vulnerability, natural hazard vulnerability
and structural vulnerability assessments, have been used as the basis this study. This study was
undertaken on July 2009.
It has to be noted that Vilufushi was severely destroyed during the tsunami of 2004 and its entire
population was displaced. At the time of DHIRAM1 study the island was under construction and by
the time this study was undertaken in July 2009 resettlement had begun 2 months earlier. The island
is yet to be fully functional both economically and socially. Most of the affected population have
moved back a but a considerable numbers are yet to return. There were no major economic
establishments at the time of the survey and only very few social institutions were fully operational.
Hence, this study only provides a snapshot of the early stage of resettlement and care should be
taken in interpreting the results and findings.