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“Operation South East Asia Tsunami Assist”: an Australian team in the Maldives
Author(s) -
Robertson Andrew G,
Dwyer Dominic E,
Leclercq Muriel G
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2005.tb06732.x
Subject(s) - preparedness , health care , emergency management , medicine , nursing , family medicine , political science , law
Disaster Preparedness and Management Unit, Department of Health, Perth, WA. Andrew G Robertson, CSC, FAFPHM, FRACMA, Group Director, Health Care and Disaster Preparedness. Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, NSW. Dominic E Dwyer, MD, FRACP, FRCPA, Infectious Diseases Physician. Clinical Services, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, WA. Muriel G Leclercq, BSc(Nursing), Coordinator. Reprints will not be available from the authors. Correspondence: Dr Andrew G Robertson, Disaster Preparedness and Management Unit, Department of Health, 189 Royal Street, East Perth, WA 6004. Andrew.Robertson@health.wa.gov.au The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025729X 4 April 2005 182 7 340-342 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2005 www.mja.com.au Crisis: Tsunami centuries. When the earthquake and subsequent tsunami st 26 December 2004, most Australians were conte public holidays ahead of them. The tsunami, travellin up to 800 kilometres per hour, struck countries arou Bengal and across the Indian Ocean. Tremors we Maldives at about 06:25 local time, and the tsun en jur res tion “the Maldives” and everyone immediately cones up images of unspoiled coral islands, holiday orts, spectacular diving sites and great surf. The Maldives (from the Sanskrit “mala-dvipa”, meaning “garland of islands”) is all that and more, from the bustling capital city of Malé to the 200 serene inhabited islands where the traditional occupations of fishing and boat building continue as they have for