Rescuers scramble to reach tsunami-hit villages in the Solomon Islands

AT least nine people are dead and many missing in the Solomon Islands after an 8.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami, news reports say.

Aid workers are struggling to reach remote, tsunami-ravaged villages in the South Pacific island chain, as the death toll rises with more bodies found in wrecked homes and debris.

At least nine people, including a child, were killed when a powerful earthquake set off a small tsunami that sent 1.5-metre waves roaring inland on Santa Cruz Island, in the eastern Solomons, yesterday.

The waves proved deadly for five elderly villagers and a child, who weren’t fast enough to outrun the rushing water, said George Herming, a spokesman for the prime minister.

Three more bodies were found today, but Herming said details of how those victims died were not immediately available.

Several others are missing and dozens of strong aftershocks were keeping frightened villagers from returning to the coast, Herming said.

“People are still scared of going back to their homes because there’s nothing left, so they are residing in temporary shelters on higher ground,” Herming said.

The quake generated 1.5-metre waves that damaged or destroyed several coastal communities and flooded the islands’ airstrip, preventing relief workers from reaching the region by air.

As they scrambled to reach smashed villages in the eastern province, disaster relief agencies warned the death toll was likely to rise.

Aid agency World Vision said some houses in the town of Venga were shifted 10 metres by the surge of water and 95 per cent of homes in Nela village were washed away.

“I’m currently walking through one community and I’m knee-deep in water,” World Vision emergency coordinator Jeremiah Tabua said. “I can see a number of houses that have been swept away by the surge.”

The Solomon Islands Red Cross said the remoteness of the disaster zone, more than 600 kilometres from the capital Honiara, was hindering relief efforts, with the airstrip closed due to debris on the runway.

National disaster management office spokesman Sipuru Rove said the Solomons government had asked the Royal Australian Air Force to send a plane to survey damage to the island.

“We’re hoping for it to happen sometime today, if possible,” he said.

Mr Rove said an estimated 3,000 people were homeless, with many villagers fleeing the coast for higher ground and taking shelter in makeshift camps in the rugged hills.

Red Cross disaster manager Cameron Vudi said reconnaissance flights would be made over the island today to assess the scale of the damage but initial reports indicated at least 460 homes had been destroyed.

He said the death toll was likely to rise as reports came in from isolated communities.

“We’re expecting changes. There are signs that there might be increases in the number of casualties,” he said.

 “There are still reports coming in. Most of the reports are confined to areas that are accessible by road but there are a lot more communities that have been damaged.”

He said boats with emergency supplies such as tarpaulins, fresh water and medical equipment would depart Honiara for the Santa Cruz Islands today but were not expected to arrive until the weekend.

The US Geological Survey said the powerful quake struck beneath the sea about 76 kilometres west of the provincial capital Lata, on the large island of Nendo, at a depth of 28.7 kilometres.

It was followed by dozens of strong aftershocks of up to 7.0 magnitude and the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre put several island nations on alert for two-and-a-half hours before declaring the threat had passed.

In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless. The quake lifted an entire island and pushed out its shoreline by dozens of metres.

The Solomons are part of the “Ring of Fire”, a zone of tectonic activity around the Pacific that is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

In December 2004, a 9.3-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggered a catastrophic tsunami that killed 226,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

From AP/AFP

R.S