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Islanders survive wrath of powerful cyclone zoe
Honiara, Jan 04: All the inhabitants on two of three South Pacific islands hammered by a cyclone appeared to have survived by fleeing to mountain shelters, according to the first witness reports from the area, where it was feared hundreds might have perished.
Honiara, Jan 04: All the inhabitants on two of three South Pacific islands hammered by a cyclone appeared to have survived by fleeing to mountain shelters, according to the first witness reports from the area, where it was feared hundreds might have perished.
The Australian newspaper, quoting a report by a freelance photographer, said it appeared no one had died on Tikopia island when Cyclone Zoe tore through the remote eastern Solomon Islands Sunday morning with winds of 190 mph.
Tikopia is the largest of the affected islands, which lie 600 miles southeast of the Solomon Islands` capital Honiara and are home to around 3,700 people. The situation on the island of Anuta remains unclear.
"The whole way there I thought I would see hundreds of dead and festering bodies, but instead we were just overwhelmed with people running toward the plane," photographer Geoff Mackley told The Weekend Australian after landing on Tikopia by helicopter Friday.
"Every single person was alive and there they were, standing in front of me."
Australian state radio reported Saturday that the French military had confirmed the estimated 1,000 inhabitants of Mota Lava, southwest of Tikopia, had also survived the cyclone.
A French military spokesman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that a French Navy team, which flew by helicopter to Mota Lava Friday, had reported that the island had suffered no casualties. The reports were the first from the region since the cyclone hit. Radio links are down on the islands and there are no air strips.
A patrol boat carrying relief supplies is due to reach the area -- which has been declared a disaster zone by the Solomon Islands government -- at first light Sunday.
Tikopia islanders, living in about 21 villages, have a long history of coping with cyclones.
"Traditional mitigation measures appear to have once again proved very useful," Lori Yates, director of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office, told Reuters on Saturday.
Bureau Report
The Australian newspaper, quoting a report by a freelance photographer, said it appeared no one had died on Tikopia island when Cyclone Zoe tore through the remote eastern Solomon Islands Sunday morning with winds of 190 mph.
Tikopia is the largest of the affected islands, which lie 600 miles southeast of the Solomon Islands` capital Honiara and are home to around 3,700 people. The situation on the island of Anuta remains unclear.
"The whole way there I thought I would see hundreds of dead and festering bodies, but instead we were just overwhelmed with people running toward the plane," photographer Geoff Mackley told The Weekend Australian after landing on Tikopia by helicopter Friday.
"Every single person was alive and there they were, standing in front of me."
Australian state radio reported Saturday that the French military had confirmed the estimated 1,000 inhabitants of Mota Lava, southwest of Tikopia, had also survived the cyclone.
A French military spokesman told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that a French Navy team, which flew by helicopter to Mota Lava Friday, had reported that the island had suffered no casualties. The reports were the first from the region since the cyclone hit. Radio links are down on the islands and there are no air strips.
A patrol boat carrying relief supplies is due to reach the area -- which has been declared a disaster zone by the Solomon Islands government -- at first light Sunday.
Tikopia islanders, living in about 21 villages, have a long history of coping with cyclones.
"Traditional mitigation measures appear to have once again proved very useful," Lori Yates, director of the Solomon Islands National Disaster Management Office, told Reuters on Saturday.
Bureau Report