Solomon Islands Earthquake and Tsunami

Standard Newswire is a cost-effective and efficient newswire service for public policy groups, government agencies, PR firms, think-tanks, watchdog groups, advocacy groups, coalitions, foundations, colleges, universities, activists, politicians, and candidates to distribute their press releases to journalists who truly want to hear from them.

Do not settle for an email blasting service or a newswire overloaded with financial statements. Standard Newswire gets your news into the hands of working journalists, broadcast hosts, and news producers.

Find out how you can start using Standard Newswire to

CONNECT WITH THE WORLD

VIEW ALL Our News Outlets

Standard Newswire™ LLC
209 W. 29th Street, Suite 6202
New York, NY 10001, USA.
(212) 290-1585

Solomon Islands Earthquake and Tsunami

Contact: Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA, (02) 9264 9343, office@apheda.org.au

MEDIA ADVISORY, Apr. 3 /Standard Newswire/ -- At 7:40am, local time, on Monday 2 April 2007, the Solomon Islands were hit by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

While the death toll is thankfully low, there is fairly extensive damage to houses and building in the Western province and neighbouring islands of Kolombangara, Mono, Choiseul and Rononga. At this stage, over 20 deaths have been reported, although that number could rise as news comes in from more isolated islands. The people fortunately knew to move to higher ground when they saw the ocean recede prior to the tsunami coming in.

Two staff associated with our work in the Solomon Islands lost family in the tsunami. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA is part of a consortium of three agencies undertaking vocational skills training in rural areas, and the joint accountant for this project lost her grandmother while a staffperson from one of the other agencies in the consortia lost his mother.

We have yet to hear from the Rural Training Centres in that province, through which we deliver the vocational training, to see if any of them suffered physical damage or destruction.

Australia has a large military presence in the Solomons as part of the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) and these soldiers are assisting to deliver aid to the victims.

Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA will continue to monitor the situation, and will inform all unions of any developments. If you would like any further information, please don't hesitate to phone Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA on (02) 9264 9343.