23 Jan 2008

Solomons tsunami victims get land on higher ground

4:24 pm on 23 January 2008

Some tsunami victims in Solomon Islands will be given titles to land they have been using since their coastal villages were destroyed in April last year.

The MP for Gizo, Gordon Darcy Lilo, says the people of Sageragi in Western Province who now settle on higher ground will be given perpetual title over their new plots of land.

The settlers say they want to live there because it is safer than on the coast.

Mr Lilo says as Gizo Island is government-owned there is no problem for the settlers to acquire the plots.

He says the new land allows the settlers to grow crops and vegetables which they can sell on the Gizo market.