Houses lie wrecked in the Solomon Islands village of Venga after a tsunami struck the remote Santa Cruz Islands. Picture; AFP Source: AFP
STRONG aftershocks have hampered efforts to send aid to tsunami-affected villages in the Solomon Islands, as the scale of the disaster widened significantly.
Officials say damage in the Santa Cruz Islands eastern Solomons is much worse than first thought following Wednesday's 8.0 magnitude earthquake, which sent tsunami waves smashing into coastal villages.
At least nine people were killed.
Authorities said today 20 villages had been swamped by the tsunami and 6,000 people left homeless, doubling previous estimates.
“At first we thought it was going to be quite small but now it looks like it's going to be very big and communities will not be able to handle it themselves,” national disaster management office spokesman Sipuru Rove said.
“This is where we might require external assistance.”
The remoteness of the disaster zone, more than 600km from the capital Honiara, has hamstrung relief efforts, with plans to fly in aid thwarted by damage to the islands' airstrip in the main town Lata.
Mr Rove says debris left on the runway after the quake have been cleared but the constant aftershocks rattling the island, including a 6.6-magnitude jolt early today, mean pilots are wary about landing there.
He says a flight carrying Prime Minister Gordon Lilo and senior officials to the island is believed to have turned back to Honiara early today because of fears the 6.6 quake had caused fresh damage to the airstrip.
In addition, Mr Rove says the aftershocks are frustrating attempts by villagers to salvage supplies from their devastated homes to equip the makeshift camps where they are sheltering in the rugged interior.
“They will go down (to the villages) but when there's another aftershock they run back to the hills because they're scared of another tsunami,” he said.
With the airfield still out of action, two boats set sail from Honiara late yesterday loaded with food, water and medical supplies. They are expected to arrive late today or early tomorrow.
World Vision, which had a 20-strong team working on development projects on the island before the tsunami, says food and water in the hillside camps is running low and sanitation will become an issue in coming days.
“Destruction has been widespread in and around Lata,” it said. “Coastal wells have been covered by debris or contaminated, water tanks and toilets have been destroyed and coastal areas are littered with dead fish and poultry.
“For many families, their livelihoods also disappeared in the water.”
Both Australia and New Zealand are ready to provide assistance to their northern neighbour and Rove says an Australian air force Hercules will set off from Honiara on Friday to make a reconnaissance flight over the island.
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