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Some parts of the Maldives were so severely lashed by last month’s tsunami that the government says the map of the paradise cluster of nearly 1,200 tiny islands literally needs to be redrawn.

If the view from a low-flying seaplane is anything to go by, it is easy to see why.

A sweep over the large Hakuraa Club Resort in the southern reaches of the Indian Ocean island chain reveals how waves have torn into the centre of the crescent shaped island and sucked out tonnes of sand. The roof of a beach bungalow floats oddly intact near Medhufushi Resort, surrounded by wood that used to be the rest of the building.

All over the eastern fringe of the Meemu atoll, palm trees bob about in clear waters like dead centipedes in a giant bath.

Some are still rooted to what was dry land before the tsunami struck two weeks ago but is now underwater, more than 30 metres (100 feet) out to sea.

Most of the low-lying Maldives escaped the full fury of the tsunami — triggered by an earthquake off Sumatra — because the landmass was too small for the waves to crest on.

But without the protection of reefs, the southeastern stretch of atolls famed for some of the world’s best scuba diving took a direct hit, with waves as high as 12 feet packing enough power to batter islands into new shapes and in some cases wipe them off the map all together.

“The tsunami changed the map of the Maldives so much that we need to commission a new survey of the country,” said Mohamed Shareef, an environmental expert who works for President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s communications unit.