"The situation is under control," Adam Maniku, Deputy Minister of Maldivian Finance and Treasury Department told Xinhua in the National Disaster Management Center.

"That means nobody is dying, nobody is hungry, no diseases. Those who were displaced have been resettled to temporary centres,"Maniku added.

He said the relief operation is going to the second phase -- the reconstruction of the affected areas of the country. Maniku said he personally thinks the second stage will take at least fiveyears.

As more than 70 percent of the economy was affected by the tsunami, it will be a difficult task for the government and foreign aid will play a key role in rebuilding the Indian Ocean atoll nation, Maniku said.

The official death toll in the Maldives is 82. As of Saturday, 26 were still missing and more than 20,000 people were displaced or homeless.

The government said it had managed to re-establish contacts throughout the nation of 1,192 tiny islands scattered some 800 kilometers across the equator and the size of the destruction was just unfolding.

The Maldives is known as a paradise for holiday makers and had emerged as Asia's most expensive destination.

Out of the 199 inhabited islands in the archipelago, 14 islandswere completely evacuated, 79 islands do not have safe drinking water, 26 islands have no electricity, 24 islands have no telephones and four islands have no communications facility at all,said the government.

In the tourism sector, the country's largest foreign income earner, out of the 87 resorts, 19 were severely damaged and had tobe closed down, while 14 others suffered major partial damages. Many of the closed-down resorts require extensive reconstruction and renovation before they can be operational again.

The fisheries sector suffered badly due to the devastating disaster. Some fishermen were among those who had to evacuate fromthe island to save themselves and the family. Many lost their homes and are displaced. Many have lost their vessels, the very vessels they depended on for their livelihood.

Crops were swept away and most parts of the land are covered with salty mud leaving it unusable.

Businesses and enterprises also suffered badly either due to direct physical impact on their product and production, or by disruptions to the lives of the people involved.