Islands Business - Solomon Islands: DEALING AND COUNTING THE TSUMANI DAMAGE

52 deaths and 36,000 plus people affected

Ana Laqeretabua
Almost three months after a giant earthquake and tsunami struck on April 2, the Solomon Islands Government and key partners are starting to come to terms with the full extent of the damage and the enormity of the recovery task at hand.

Tsunami victims... slowly rebuilding their lives. Photo: UNICEF Pacific

Initial estimates had indicated around 10,000 people including approximately 5000 children had been displaced. Latest figures released from the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) in Honiara reveal significantly higher numbers following detailed assessments on the ground.

It is now evident that at least 36,588 people and 6299 homes were affected by the earthquake and tsunami in the Western and Choiseul Provinces. NDMO has also confirmed 52 deaths; 40 people injured; 304 communities affected; 3251 houses destroyed; and 3047 houses damaged.

By the first week of June, the National Disaster Council (NDC) had spent S$107 million (US$1.4 million) in relief and rehabilitation efforts in the two provinces with an estimated 132 camps sheltering internally displaced persons set up in Gizo, Simbo, Ranongga, Shortlands, New Georgia, Mono, Rendova, Vella la Vella, Kolombangara and Choiseul.

The earthquake affected a vast area of 250 kilometres with transportation to the affected islands a major issue in the emergency response and recovery process.

The latest figures on directly affected school children currently stands at around 18,000 with at least 20 schools completely destroyed and 64 severely damaged.

Technical assessment teams in key areas of education, health, rural water supply and sanitation and infrastructure continue to work to ensure international humanitarian standards are met whilst also assessing damage with total costs still to be fully ascertained.

According to Western Province Premier Alex Lokopio, the provincial government system has been severely affected with a large number of government workers now living in tents in camp sites. In addition, a request from businesshouses for a six-month grace period for the payment of fees is crippling the provincial government coffers.

Concern is also growing amongst the Provincial Disaster Council (PDC) with communities who have fled to the mountains and refuse to return to the coastal areas due to fear of another disaster as aftershocks continue to be felt in the affected areas.

“The people who fled up to the mountains are waiting to be reassured by government and the NDMO that there will not be another earthquake and tsunami, but unfortunately we are not able to give them this reassurance,” Lokopio said.

“Even I as the head of government in the Western Province am reluctant to say it is safe. So we have a bit of a situation where we are encouraging the people to come back down to the coastal areas. But we are at the same time unable to reassure them or guarantee that they will not have to go through a similar experience,” he added.

However, despite the negative impact of the disaster and the trauma that people have suffered, affected communities are slowly starting to re-build their lives with the assistance of government, donors and various partners and non governmental organisations on the ground.

In the first few weeks following the disaster, the Social Welfare Department with UNICEF, Save the Children and World Vision developed temporary learning centers in the camp sites in an effort to bring structured activity back to the affected communities. Over 105 community welfare volunteers from around 77 communities across all affected islands of the Western Province and Choiseul have been trained to provide assistance to the affected communities with a particular focus on children. The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development and UNICEF have also started the first phase of education response and recovery with the delivery of recreation kits and School-in-a-Box kits which contain a variety of school and teaching materials.

All camps are now in compliance with international humanitarian standards for the supply and availability of water through the provision of materials supplied by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation (RWSS) division of the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and other partners.

Village-by-village assessments have also been conducted by RWSS with final assessment reports expected to provide clearer indications of the extent of recovery.

The Asian Development Bank is assessing the damage to infrastructure with several activities being implemented at Gizo Hospital including repair and improvement of the water supply system in its entirety by UNICEF, Public Works Department and RWSS. More tarpaulins are being distributed as needs are identified.

According to the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, the main concerns are the high incidences of malaria and sanitation relating to the changing topography of the seashore.

Coral reefs have become more exposed as a result of the tsunami and as the sea front is commonly used as a toilet place, mosquitoes are found breeding in pools in the coral. Other health issues include early weaning and malnutrition as a result of people supplying their best vegetable produce to the market.

Lokopio said the government was extremely grateful to the assistance from donors, partner organisations and NGOs.

“They have been extremely helpful, but we now need to introduce a system whereby we can better coordinate the assistance to make sure all affected communities are being reached with rations, etc, and that remote communities are not missing out.”

The NDMO coordinated a four-day workshop in Honiara in June to bring together key stakeholders and partners and to review the lessons learnt from the disaster as well as map out a more coordinated approach to the recovery phase.

“What we need to do is encourage the affected communities to use resources readily available and not to rely too much on handouts as we need to be able to sustain the assistance provided to our communities,” Lokopio said.

“I am encouraging the affected communities to help one another at this time. We have two key communities in the Western province—those who are of Micronesian origin who live by the coast and rely on the sea; and those of Melanesian origin who can survive up in the mountains and who can farm the land. It is important all communities help each other as much as they can.”

The technical advisory team has estimated the recovery phase to last at least a month during which time affected communities are helped to return to normal level of functioning with the reconstruction or rehabilitation phase to take up to a minimum of five years, depending on the availability of resources.