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Remoteness hampers aid flow to tsunami-hit
Pacific islands

Source: AlertNet

Date: 02 Oct 2009

Written by: Olesya Dmitracova

LONDON (AlertNet) - Their remoteness had made a cluster of islands in the South Pacific
the perfect spot to escape to on holiday but when a disaster struck, it became a major
problem for aid agencies trying to reach the survivors.

Three days after four tsunamis hit Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, many aid
agencies still struggled to deliver emergency aid to the islands, the biggest of which -
Samoa - is located over 4,000 km (2,500 miles) from the nearest continent of Australia.

"It is certainly very difficult because there is little in the way of scheduled aircraft going in,"
said Lasse Petersen, general manager of British-based charity Shelter Box.

"We've got resources in Melbourne and in Auckland and we are trying to find ways to get
that moved up to Samoa," he said, adding that the options ShelterBox was looking at
ranged from chartered planes to using space on New Zealand's government aid flights.

ShelterBox provides boxes that contain equipment vital for survival after a disaster and
weigh 55 kg each.

"We had a freight price quoted yesterday from Melbourne to Samoa for 100,000 pounds
($159,000) to send 100 or 200 boxes, so the freight component would be more than the
cost of the box. Sadly, what happens sometimes in a disaster freight prices increase,"
Petersen said.

By Friday, the death toll from the tsunamis, caused by an 8 magnitude undersea quake,
was near 150 in Samoa, 31 in American Samoa and nine in Tonga, and hundreds of
people remained missing.

In American Samoa - home to around 65,500 people - 2,700 were displaced, said John
Torres, a spokesman at aid agency ADRA International.

UNICEF, the United Nations children's fund, also said the remoteness of the volcanic
islands made delivering aid there difficult.

The fund had stockpiled medical supplies and water purification kits in relatively nearby Fiji.
Shipping the aid to Samoa and Tonga by boat would take too long while sending it by air is
expensive, said Fiona Hesselden, a deputy director at UNICEF UK.

Aid workers are also having to contend with destroyed roads and jammed telephone lines.