Solomon Islands: Caritas responding to needs

Media Release April 3, 2007

Solomon Islands: Caritas partners responding to needs.

Caritas Australia’s partners are currently on the ground in the affected islands of the Western province of the Solomon Islands assessing the damage and providing immediate assistance to those affected by the recent tsunami.

Archbishop of Honiara Adrian Smith said, “The aftershocks of the earthquakes have been continuous throughout yesterday and today. These quakes were more like a swaying feeling.”

RAMSI and the Solomon Islands government with the Solomon Islands Red Cross are leading the immediate rescue and emergency response. Caritas Australia has worked for more than 10 years with partners in the islands of Western Province, which is the area of the Catholic Diocese of Gizo. This partnership ensures that Caritas Australia will assist meeting medium to long-term community rebuilding plans. Working with the local governments' disaster response teams, our partners will offer assistance from the network of rural health clinics across the islands and other safe community buildings to provide shelter and medical aid to the vulnerable and injured.

Jamie Isbister Head of Programs for Caritas Australia said ‘our response to humanitarian disasters is always determined by our local partners. The Caritas network is active on the ground in Gizo and the surrounding islands which have been worst affected by the tsunami’.

Across the islands, more than 20 people have been confirmed dead and thousands are sheltering in higher ground, where Caritas partners are encouraging people to stay until the threat decreases.

Approximately 500 houses in Gizo town have been destroyed and more than 2000 people are sheltering in the hills above the harbour.

“The immediate need is for food, water and medical supplies as all are in short supply. Emergency housing will be the next phase and then water and sanitation will be high priorities,’ said Jamie Isbister, head of programs with Caritas Australia.

With telephones down and people out of their homes, intermittent radio communications between outlying stations are reporting the state of scattered communities and slowly news is being collated about damage and casualties by Caritas partners in Solomon Islands.

According to Archbishop Smith, “people have been forced to evacuate Taro Island to Moli. The island of Simbo with its active volcano has suffered a lot. The people there were caught between their constantly active volcano and then the waves and are afraid to move to higher ground. There seems to have been a lot of deaths in the Simbo area. The Nila health clinic has also been badly damaged."

“I hope tomorrow will bring good news, telling you the waters have subsided and the cleaning up is taking place” said Archbishop Smith. “I hope there will be relief available to all who have suffered so much,’ he concluded

Caritas Australia is accepting donations to support the Solomon’s reconstruction.

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