- (AFP) -- Eyewitnesses on flights over the cyclone-battered
Polynesian island of Tikopia reported massive destruction and few signs
of life among the 2,000 inhabitants.
-
- Freelance cameraman Geoff Mackley described the remote
island, which was battered by Cyclone Zoe Sunday, as "a scene of total
devastation" and said it would be a miracle if casualty figures were
not high.
-
- All contact was lost with Tikopia 24 hours before the
cyclone hit and Solomon Islands officals hold grave fears for the inhabitants
of the remote outpost more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) northeast
of Australia.
-
- Another populated island, Anuta, was also battered by
Zoe, one of the fiercest Pacific cyclones on record.
-
- Mackley flew over the island early Wednesday in a single
engined aircraft from Vanuatu and described the disaster scene on his website.
-
- He said Tikopia appeared to have been hit when Cylone
Zoe was at its peak, with winds of between 300 and 350 kilometres per hour
(186 to 217 miles per hour).
-
- "Every tree on the island has been blown over or
shredded, the island is completely denuded of vegetation, almost every
building has been damaged, a few remain intact, while others have been
shredded, and the sea has come through some villages, burying them,"
he said.
-
- "This sort of destruction is normally seen only
after a strong tornado or volcanic eruption, a number of people, maybe
20 came down to the beach to watch us fly over, some signalled us with
sheets of white plastic, others just sat there."
-
- An Australian air force Hercules overflew the islands
late Wednesday at the request of the Solomon Islands government to take
aerial photographs so the scale of the damage could be assessed.
-
- An Australian Defence Force spokesman told AFP the plane
was unable to land on Tikopia because the rugged volcanic island lacked
an airstrip.
-
- A spokesman for AusAID, the Australian government's aid
coordination body, said those aboard the flight reported seeing extensive
damage to houses and crops.
-
- But he said at this stage it was not possible to assess
injuries or fatalities from the air.
-
- "The Solomon Islands National Diaster Management
Office will consider the photo evidence and draw their conclusions,"
he told AFP.
-
- AusAID said some inhabitants of Tikopia could be seen
from the air walking about the island and fishing on its lagoon.
-
- After hearing of the scale of the devastation, the Solomon
Islands government cancelled a plan to send a patrol boat to Tikopia and
said a larger vessel would be prepared to take out relief supplies.
-
- Oxfam Community Aid Abroad's Melbourne office is on standby
to begin assembling emergency aid once a damage assessment has been made.
-
- The islands are expected to need supplies of water, shelter,
food and clothing.
-
- The issue of sending help to the islands, 1,000 kilometres
(620 mile) west of the Solomons capital Honiara, has been clouded by the
fact that a four-year long civil war has left the central government bankrupt.
-
- The island's isolation also poses a significant logistical
problem.
-
- Tikopia has a long history of dealing with cyclones,
in 1992 Cyclone Tia in 1992 wiped out most of its housing and food crops
while a storm in 1956 killed 200 people.
-
- As a result, the inhabitants live in low lying dwellings
and keep stocks of food buried to sustain themselves when cyclones hit.
-
- Cyclone Zoe started early last Thursday in Tuvalu waters
and gathered speed and strength as it moved westward across the Pacific.
-
- It was classified as a category five cyclone, the highest
level, packing sustained winds of 268 kilometres per hour (145 knots),
gusting to 324 kph (175 knots) with 11 metre (37 feet) seas.
-
- Tiny Tikopia, with a land mass of only 16 square kilometres
(six square mile) volcanic island, came almost directly under the eye of
the storm.
-
-
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
