HONIARA, Solomon Islands (AP) -- The first boatloads of international aid have reached survivors of a devastating tsunami in the Solomon Islands, but officials warn of a dire food shortage if supplies don't quickly get to hundreds of people camped on hillsides.
At least 28 people died in Monday's tsunami and quake, measured at a magnitude of 8.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The victims include a bishop and three worshippers killed when a wave hit a church and a New Zealand man who drowned trying to save his mother, who remains missing.
Disaster officials said the toll was expected to rise Wednesday, as rescue crews reached outlying villages that were flattened by the waves. Bodies could be seen floating in the water by authorities conducting aerial surveys of the destruction; there was no official count of those missing.
Some of more than 2,000 people who camped on a hill behind the town of Gizo after Monday's disaster have returned to look for supplies or loved ones. Others have been too afraid to venture to the coast amid more than two dozen aftershocks.
Julian Makaa of the National Disaster Management Office said more than 900 homes had been destroyed around Gizo and about 5,000 people affected.
Boats reached Gizo on Tuesday from the Solomons' capital, Honiara, carrying food and other supplies, some of which was distributed to survivors. But officials said shortages would become dire within days without more help.
"There is no food available" in Gizo and Noro, a nearby town, said government spokesman Alfred Maesulia. "Some settlements have been completely wiped out by the waves."
Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the International Red Cross and the United Nations were among those offering aid, but no formal relief plan was announced after a day of meetings by senior government officials.
Makaa said the airport had been cleared of debris and would reopen Wednesday.
Six doctors and 13 nurses would be among the first flown to the towns of Munda and Gizo, where the region's only hospital was inundated, he said.
Disaster teams that flew over the coast around Gizo reported the "destruction was massive and widespread," said Fred Fakarii, chairman of the National Disaster Management Council.
Aerial TV footage showed tin- and thatched-roof buildings collapsed along the muddy shore. Other structures leaned awkwardly on broken stilts as men picked through the debris.
"There are some very ragged, remote areas, and there's no connecting roads, (just) isolated villages," Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Marshall told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Makaa said officials could only guess at the numbers of dead in the most remote villages, where two-way radio is the usual mode of contact with the outside world.
The earthquake, which struck 10 kilometers (six miles) beneath the sea floor about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Gizo, set off alarms from Tokyo to Hawaii. The quake also tested procedures put in place after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami left 230,000 dead or missing in a dozen countries.
But because of Gizo's proximity to the epicenter, the destructive waves -- up to 5 meters (16 feet high) -- hit before an alarm could be sounded. The disaster has rekindled debate about whether the multimillion-dollar warning systems installed after the 2004 tsunami are worth the cost.
"When you have a tsunami coming in so quickly after an earthquake, it doesn't do much good to have an early warning system," said U.S. earthquake expert Kerry Sieh. Officials would be better off putting more resources into disaster response education and efforts to permanently relocate vulnerable communities to higher ground, he said.
Michael Rottmann, the U.N. special coordinator for the early warning system in Indonesia, said warning systems are useful if the message gets out quickly.
"I think a lot of lives can be saved if you have a warning in less than 10 minutes," he said. "If you have five minutes and you have a reliable warning, you can get very far ... up into a hill or away from the beach."
No significant tsunami was reported Monday anywhere outside the Solomons, which are comprised of more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
At least 28 people died in Monday's tsunami and quake, measured at a magnitude of 8.1 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The victims include a bishop and three worshippers killed when a wave hit a church and a New Zealand man who drowned trying to save his mother, who remains missing.
Disaster officials said the toll was expected to rise Wednesday, as rescue crews reached outlying villages that were flattened by the waves. Bodies could be seen floating in the water by authorities conducting aerial surveys of the destruction; there was no official count of those missing.
Some of more than 2,000 people who camped on a hill behind the town of Gizo after Monday's disaster have returned to look for supplies or loved ones. Others have been too afraid to venture to the coast amid more than two dozen aftershocks.
Julian Makaa of the National Disaster Management Office said more than 900 homes had been destroyed around Gizo and about 5,000 people affected.
Boats reached Gizo on Tuesday from the Solomons' capital, Honiara, carrying food and other supplies, some of which was distributed to survivors. But officials said shortages would become dire within days without more help.
"There is no food available" in Gizo and Noro, a nearby town, said government spokesman Alfred Maesulia. "Some settlements have been completely wiped out by the waves."
Australia, New Zealand, the United States, the International Red Cross and the United Nations were among those offering aid, but no formal relief plan was announced after a day of meetings by senior government officials.
Makaa said the airport had been cleared of debris and would reopen Wednesday.
Six doctors and 13 nurses would be among the first flown to the towns of Munda and Gizo, where the region's only hospital was inundated, he said.
Disaster teams that flew over the coast around Gizo reported the "destruction was massive and widespread," said Fred Fakarii, chairman of the National Disaster Management Council.
Aerial TV footage showed tin- and thatched-roof buildings collapsed along the muddy shore. Other structures leaned awkwardly on broken stilts as men picked through the debris.
"There are some very ragged, remote areas, and there's no connecting roads, (just) isolated villages," Deputy Police Commissioner Peter Marshall told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Makaa said officials could only guess at the numbers of dead in the most remote villages, where two-way radio is the usual mode of contact with the outside world.
The earthquake, which struck 10 kilometers (six miles) beneath the sea floor about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Gizo, set off alarms from Tokyo to Hawaii. The quake also tested procedures put in place after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami left 230,000 dead or missing in a dozen countries.
But because of Gizo's proximity to the epicenter, the destructive waves -- up to 5 meters (16 feet high) -- hit before an alarm could be sounded. The disaster has rekindled debate about whether the multimillion-dollar warning systems installed after the 2004 tsunami are worth the cost.
"When you have a tsunami coming in so quickly after an earthquake, it doesn't do much good to have an early warning system," said U.S. earthquake expert Kerry Sieh. Officials would be better off putting more resources into disaster response education and efforts to permanently relocate vulnerable communities to higher ground, he said.
Michael Rottmann, the U.N. special coordinator for the early warning system in Indonesia, said warning systems are useful if the message gets out quickly.
"I think a lot of lives can be saved if you have a warning in less than 10 minutes," he said. "If you have five minutes and you have a reliable warning, you can get very far ... up into a hill or away from the beach."
No significant tsunami was reported Monday anywhere outside the Solomons, which are comprised of more than 200 islands with a population of about 552,000 people.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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