Disaster authorities in Solomon Islands are calling for a targeted approach to emergency response and recovery in the wake of a major earthquake.
A 7.8 magnitude quake struck a fortnight ago off of Makira Island in the country's south.
Around 10,000 people are believed to have been affected with several hundred buildings destroyed across three provinces.
But the director of the National Disaster Management Office Loti Yates told Koroi Hawkins Solomon Islands will not be requesting additional international assistance with the initial emergency response.
This mother from Manitawaniuhi Village was cooking breakfast for her kids when the roof fell on top of her and a child she was carrying during the 7.8 magnitude quake which struck Solomon Islands on 9 December.
Photo: Supplied / World Vision
Transcript
LOTI YATES: I think the government has made up a decision that requests for international assistance to support in the various activities during the emergency response may not be sought. We are not going to look for international support in that sense. The capacity of government through what the government has here through its international NGO partners who has presence here. Through the local donors here and the UN agencies that are already in country can be able to do the requirements of this humanitarian response. Maybe sector wise when it when it comes to recovery yes. They maybe looking at traditional donors who are supporting the sectors here to help in the recovery however the resources that are available within country can deal with this. Although we have been communicating through the various posts here the UN agencies here to allow the Solomon Islands government to take a lead in organising and leading this because the thing is we don't want to have them rush in only to find that they have been utilising resources that may not have been required at all. And therefore we want to go back to our partners our donor governments etc. with good information for them to support I think that is the most important thing. We want to feed them with good information. The isolation of the areas that have been affected has contributed to this as well because an event that has attracted a lot of international attention due to the size of the shake etc. may not be requiring assistance at all. So before we got out to our partners and seek support we would rather go to our partners with good information and do a targeted response very specific to the needs that we have identified.
KOROI HAWKINS: Right that is a good plan.
LY: Yes so that is why the government has decided to go that way.
KH: Yes. Fiji is experiencing or has experienced a lot of heavy rainfall are you getting rainfall in the affected communities and is that an issue?
LY: Yes, already I got a call from the provincial disaster officer in Kira Kira saying that they have been experiencing some landslides as well, because of the amount of water absorbed into the loose soil that has been loosened due to the shakes that were happening. And so the secondary impact of that is now beginning to show. It is a problem that we have. But it is not only Makira we are talking about here Koroi. We also there were unreported events in Choiseul as well. We have flooding that has caused a lot of damage to communities in Choiseul Province. And so we are not only dealing with the impact of the earthquake and tsunami and the landslide that has come in but we are also looking at supporting communities that have been affected by floods in Choiseul Province as well. These were unreported events in the media but there are communities that we are also supporting or we will be supporting as well.
KH: Sounds like you are going to have your hands full over Christmas. You might need to bring some staff back Loti.
LT:...laughs... No Christmas for the NDMO staff.
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