It doesn't sound like they are gone.
Quoted from an AP story on AOL
"One bit of encouraging news came out of the Maldives, the Indian Ocean archipelago that is the world's lowest-lying country. Officials believe that at an average of just three feet above sea level, it lacked the conditions for a fall-scale tsunami to build up. That meant casualties and damage, while considerable, were less than in neighboring countries. Seventy-three people are confirmed dead and 31 are missing.
The islands' mainstay, tourism, looked likely to rebound quickly. Foreign tourists were back in the water and resort hotel rooms were reopening.
"My friends and family told me to go back home. But I told them I'd be more comfortable here than in the cold,'' said Michaela Niedermeyer, 43, of Vienna, Austria, who jumped on an inflatable mattress and paddled to shore after her bungalow, built on stilts over the water, was swamped by the tsunami."