Cyclone relief arrives at Solomon Islands
A ship carrying vital relief supplies finally reached a remote Pacific island today, a week after a powerful cyclone levelled homes and destroyed crops.
The Solomon Islands patrol boat Auki arrived at dawn at Tikopia, one of the impoverished nation’s southernmost islands, where about 1,300 people have survived by scavenging coconuts from trees blown over in the storm.
Islanders said Cyclone Zoe, the most powerful recorded in the Pacific, whipped up 33ft waves that destroyed entire villages and swept sand and seawater over fields of crops.
Islanders avoided the worst of Zoe’s 220mph winds by sheltering on high ground.
