Solomon Islands: tsunami causes humanitarian disaster By Will Marshall 5 April 2007 At least 30 people are confirmed to have died in Solomon Islands after a … Canberra has pledged $A2 million ($US1.6 million) in assistance while Wellington has said it will contribute half that amount. Commonly, the ocean recedes far from shore before the first local-tsunami wave strikes, as happened in Thailand, for example, during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. On April 1, 2007, a magnitude 8.1 earthquake rattled the Solomon Islands, 2,145 kilometers (1,330 miles) northeast of Brisbane, Australia.

The final death toll may be significantly higher and more than 5,000 are believed to be homeless.

Triggered by an offshore earthquake of magnitude 8.1, the deadly waves were part of a so-called near-field or local tsunami. Basic services throughout the Solomon Islands such as transport, communications, electricity, and water are grossly inadequate and in remote islands non-existent.The tsunami casualty rate was exacerbated by the absence of the communications infrastructure needed to warn people of the dangers following the earthquake. Earthquakes in 2007 resulted in about 712 fatalities. “In addition to the two million dollars that has already been committed in aid and, of course, Australia’s ongoing military support to the country of Solomon Islands, we also, of course, take account of the requests that are put to us by the Solomon Islands’ government and the assessment on the ground,” Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said.This posturing belies the real record of Canberra’s disinterest in the well-being of ordinary Solomon Islanders.

AID workers have been struggling to reach remote, tsunami-ravaged villages in the Solomon Islands as the reported death toll rose to nine.

She fled with her husband and five children and had only a sack of rice to live on. In the tropics, injuries can quickly become infected, and those forced to live without shelter risk contracting malaria. The final aid contribution made in response to the tsunami crisis will be determined not by the humanitarian situation on the ground, but rather by political and strategic calculations in Canberra.The “military support” Nelson mentioned is a reference to the Australian-dominated Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), which took over the country’s state apparatus in 2003. At least 30 people are confirmed to have died in Solomon Islands after a massive earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale triggered a tsunami, which struck the western part of the country on Monday morning. However, Michael Rottmann, the UN special coordinator for the early warning system in Indonesia, noted that warning systems are highly valuable if the message gets out quickly.

Thousands of people are homelessness and experiencing critical shortages of food, water, and medical supplies.The extent of the damage remains unknown, as the tsunami struck a number of remote islands where communication infrastructure is virtually non-existent.

There were four 8.0 or higher earthquakes in 2007 which is the most ever recorded … According to Fred Fakarii, chairman of the National Disaster Management Council, disaster teams flying over the area reported that “destruction was massive and widespread”.Western Province, the area hardest hit, consists of scores of low-lying islands. Video footage shows boats washed ashore hundreds of metres from the coastline.From Gizo alone, 4,000 people are camping on a hill behind the town, and of these about half are reportedly homeless. The Solomon Islands government has appealed for international assistance and declared a state of emergency for the Western and Choiseul Provinces and the northern part of Isabel Island.The initial earthquake raised alarms from Tokyo to Hawaii, and officials closed beaches on the east coast of Australia, some of them more than 2,000 kilometres away from the quake’s epicentre.

Centered less than ten kilometers beneath the Earth’s surface, the earthquake displaced enough water in the ocean above to trigger a small tsunami.

Damage to Ghizo Island’s airfield and harbours is making it hard for supplies to reach the area.Many people are reportedly too frightened to move from their isolated hillside shelters because of strong aftershocks, including a tremor on Wednesday which registered 6 on the Richter scale.“How do we know that it is safe to go back down the hill?” Barbara Rigieo asked the At least 2,000 people are living in makeshift camps near Gizo without any emergency supplies including, in many cases, shelter. She had seen no aid workers.The population in the western regions of the Solomons will need long-term economic and social support. While hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent bolstering the police, courts, and prison systems, nothing has been done to alleviate the widespread poverty and unemployment afflicting the country.

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