The Indian Ocean Tsunami.
On Boxing Day, the tsunami strikes with devastating force. Around 100 lives are lost, 12,000 people displaced, and economic losses reach nearly two-thirds of GDP. The nation rebuilds with extraordinary speed, helped by an outpouring of global support.
At 7:58 am on 26 December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern Sumatra. Within three hours, the Maldives — with an average elevation of 1.5 metres above sea level — was hit by a tsunami that swept cleanly over most of the country. There was no warning system. There was nowhere to run.
Of the 199 inhabited islands, 190 were seriously affected. Six islands were totally destroyed; fourteen had to be evacuated permanently. Twenty-one resorts were forced to close. Eighty-two people died, twenty-six went missing, more than 15,000 were displaced. Damage exceeded US$400 million — roughly two-thirds of the Maldives' annual GDP at the time.
Recovery was remarkably fast. International aid flooded in. The government and the tourism industry, working together for once, rebuilt most of the damaged resorts within twelve months. But the tsunami exposed an existential truth that the Maldivian government would spend the next two decades articulating to the world: the Maldives is the lowest-lying country on earth, and rising seas are not a future problem.