Maldives kicked off the week with a massive telethon that pulled in more than MVR 11.6 million to help Sri Lanka recover from the Cyclone Ditwah. The storm has turned into one of the island nation’s worst nightmares.
The 24-hour fundraiser, hosted by local media and state broadcaster PSM, started early at 9 a.m. on Sunday and wrapped up Monday afternoon. By the end, pledges and cash poured in to hit MVR 11,015,854.65 and USD 43,681.31 – that’s a whopping total of over MVR 11.6 million . With 18 donation boxes scattered around Greater Male’ – from the Male’ to Hulhumale’ and Vilimale’.
Thousands pledged during the live broadcast, proving that small acts add up fast. Audit pros at Crowe Maldives are double-checking every rupee, with final tallies expected tonight. “This is more than money; it’s Maldives standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors in their darkest hour,” PSM said in a statement.
The Maldives Police Service led with a whopping MVR 2.4 million drop, while the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) tossed in MVR 1 million. The government with a direct USD 50,000 cash boost and 25,000 cases of canned tuna.
It’s the outpouring from regular Maldivians, who dug deep despite their own tight budgets. “We saw what happened over there – homes gone, lives lost. How could we not help?” one donor shared on air.
The Devastating Cyclone Ditwah slammed into Sri Lanka’s east coast on November 28 like a monster from the deep, starting as a heavy rain bomb before exploding into full cyclone fury. Walls of floodwater swallowed whole towns, landslides buried villages in the central hills, and winds howled like banshees. By Tuesday morning, the death count had rocketed to 366, with another 370 folks still unaccounted for – and that number could climb as rescue teams hack through mud and debris in hard-hit spots like Badulla and Colombo’s outskirts.
Nearly 1 million people – almost 5% of Sri Lanka’s population – are reeling from the blow. Over 500,000 are crammed into emergency shelters, while 15,000 homes lie in splinters. Schools, hospitals, and shops are underwater or wiped out, and the power grid is a mess, leaving families in the dark. In Badulla alone, 71 are confirmed dead, with 53 more vanished under tons of earth. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake called it “the biggest and toughest natural disaster in our history,” topping even the deadly 2003 floods that claimed 254 lives.
The storm didn’t stop at borders – it dumped heavy rains on southern India too, shutting schools in Chennai and claiming three lives there. But Sri Lanka got the worst of it, with rivers like the Kelani bursting banks and turning streets into raging torrents. Rescue helicopters are buzzing non-stop, airlifting the stranded from rooftops and treetops, but flooded hospitals are straining under the load of injuries and outbreaks. Experts say climate change is cranking up these super storms, hitting fragile spots like Sri Lanka extra hard after years of economic woes and the 2022 crash.
