The Chinese government has donated $US500,000 to Maldives to expedite the repairs of a desalination plant that was destroyed by a fire leaving the 130,000 population of Maldives without water for four days.

The donation came after maldives officials announced that the county needs at least $US20 million to repair the plant and restore water to the capital.

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Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim said discussions are ongoing to seek monetary aid from Quatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab nations following the donations received from China.

Appeals for financial donations are being made through the Maldives Foreign Ministry and private donors have already chipped in  their share with a $US1 million donation coming in from an anonymous Saudi Arabian businessman.

The thousands of residents of the island's capital, Male, was left without water for cleaning, bathing, and cooking after the island's sole desalination plant, the Mal Water and Sewerages Company (MWSC), was damaged by a crippling fire, damaging critical parts of the water facility.

Maldives officials said damage to the plant was extensive and that it will probably take three days to one week before it could be fully repaired.

The officials said repairs are currently being conducted  and although sporadic progress to provide water to parts of the capital have been made, they admitted that the damage has been quite extensive that repairs will have to take a little more time to do.

Hotels, restaurants, shops ,and homes have been queuing up in water distribution centers as they still either  have no water or only have ground level water access.

The water crisis has forced Maldives President Abdullah Yameen on Saturday to cut short his trip to Malaysia where his son is seeking medical care and go home to attend to the situation.

China and India continue to send fresh water supplies to Maldives with the distribution being carried out by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and with the local governments assisting in the crisis.

The Chinese Embassy in Maldives said it will send fresh drinking water as soon as possible to the Maldives capital and continue to work with the Maldives government help the water-starved island during this crisis.

The Chinese government has arranged for all commercial flights out of China to Male to be loaded with fresh drinking water. The first batch arrived on Saturday morning carrying 15 tons of bottled water.

China has also tapped two aircraft from the  Air Force to bring 40 tons of bottled water to Male which also arrived on Saturday.

China has also ordered a Chinese navy ship with water purification facilities to dock in Male and help in the water distribution.

TagsMaldives, water crisis