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Solomon Islands: Tikopia struggling to recover from latest storms

Countries
Solomon Islands
Sources
EWC
Publication date

PACIFIC ISLANDS REPORT
Pacific Islands Development Program/East-West Center
With Support From Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai'i

HONIARA, Solomon Islands (SIBC, June 24) - Government and International Aid Agencies have been called on to quickly send assessment teams to Tikopia in the Solomon Islands and to immediately dispatch relief supplies.

Member of Parliament for East Malaita Joses Sanga made the request in light of damage caused by the recent Cyclone Gina to the island.

Sanga said the recovery of Tikopia in Temotu Province might take longer due to damage caused to houses and food gardens by the cyclone.

The latest cyclone, following December's catastrophic Cyclone Zoe, was also followed by subsequent landslides.

Reports from head of primary schools in Tikopia confirm that about 181 buildings including houses and kitchens were partially damaged.

The report said two weeks after Cyclone Gina, all food crops planted after Cyclone Zoe hit the island late last year, were destroyed by unusual landslides recurring all over the island.

Food crops including taro, potato, cassava and vegetables which islanders hoped to live on after food supplies from Honiara cease were also destroyed.

The report confirms that the 143 bags of rice left for the whole island had somehow got wet and will have to be urgently used before they go bad.

Meanwhile Sanga said the island had been on it's way to recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Zoe when cyclone Gina hit, knocking the island's efforts back.