Tsunami Left Thousands Homeless

PRESS RELEASE 02/04/07GH

Tsunami Left Thousands Homeless

Thousands of homeless people camped over night on a hilltops at the hard-hit Gizo Island fearing another return of huge waves that crashed the western Solomon Islands yesterday.

A former Solomon Islands Governor General, Sir Moses Pitakaka, who was caught in the disaster, said from Gizo this morning hundreds of people are homeless in Gizo alone and he believed a similar figure is likely in other affected areas.

The Solomon Islands Red Cross said approximately 2,000 people, or 10 percent of Gizo’s population, are now homeless, while some 500 houses may have been damaged or destroyed.

Preliminary reports from other islands suggest similar or worse levels of damage.

At least 13 people were so far confirmed dead in the Tsunami.

Yesterday morning’s 8.1 earth quake and the subsequent Tsunami caused tragic loss of life for at least 13 people in the Western and Choiseul provinces.

Gizo was just 25 miles from the earthquake’s epicenter.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the quake struck 6 miles beneath the sea floor and was followed with two more earthquakes measuring magnitudes 6.7 and 6.4.

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