09 January 2005	Sunday	27 Ziqa'ad 1425

MALE, Jan 8: At least 12 expatriate teachers in the Maldives have resigned after losing their loved ones back at home and savings in this atoll nation, an official here said on Saturday.

Many of the teachers, mostly from southern India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, also had their homes destroyed during the Dec 26 tsunami disaster, teacher coordinator Ahmed Manik said.

"They are finding it difficult to cope with the scale of the tragedy," Mr Manik said. "They have opted to resign. We understand their plight. We offered others an extra 10 days of home leave just to get over the trauma.

"This is a double tragedy for some of them... they lost their parents and relatives killed in the tsunami at home and in the Maldives they lost all they had earned in the past two or three years."

An Indian teacher lost his leg when a wall collapsed on him while another woman teacher suffered a fracture, but there was no loss of life among the 1,500 expatriate teachers in the nation of 300,000 Muslims.

Mr Manik said for those teachers that remained in the Maldives, schools were originally due to open on Sunday, a normal working day here, but this had now been delayed until Jan 25.

"We are trying to arrange temporary accommodation for them until buildings are repaired," Mr Manik said.

At least 79 schools across the nation have been completely destroyed, according to government figures.-AFP