Save the Children says more help needed for Solomons recovery

Transcript

Save the Children in Solomon Islands says the country is still trying to recover from the worst disaster it's ever faced from April's flooding and more funding is desperately needed for relief supplies.

The agency's logistics and emergency manager Graham Kenna told Jenny Meyer the scale of the destruction is huge.

GRAHAM KENNA: There's probably 8000 people still in the evacuation centres. These are people that do not have an area to go back to, mostly people from the Chinatown area of Honiara who have lost their houses completely. The government is trying to identify some land where these people can move to permanently. At the moment they are being transferred to transit centres where Save the Children and the other agencies will service their needs. And also we'll set up some child friendly spaces and get some education and activities going for the children.

JENNY MEYER: Quite a few of the schools had been taken over to be used as evacuation camps, what's the situation now with schools? Are they open again for children to attend and carry on with their learning?

GK: Yeah that was the case, there were 24 schools being used as evacuation centres. Most of these have now been returned to the Ministry of Education. These schools have been cleaned up and sanitised and the children are starting to get back into schools.

JM: And what about the health situation, I think there were some doctors seconded from the hospital and elective surgery cancelled. Are the doctors still working with people who are living in camps or have they returned to their normal duties?

GK: There are still mobile teams of doctors going out. There's been doctors come in from Australia and New Zealand to assist and take some of the pressure off the local doctors because there's only a total of 20 doctors within the country and most of them have been extremely busy.

JM: And in terms of areas outside of Honiara that were affected by the flooding, how are things going there?

GK: Well the worst affected areas in east Guadalcanal Island are being serviced continuously by Save the Children and the other agencies. We're cleaning out the wells in the villages, the government is supplying food to these people in the villages, and the aid agencies are taking out shelter equipment.

JM: And just looking ahead to the next month, what would you say are the most pressing things that the government and the aid agencies have to contend with now as the Solomons tries to get back up on its feet?

GK: Well food security is a major issue because all the crops were destroyed, all the seeds were lost, the people keep seeds year to year, they were all lost. They lost all of their tools. So it's very important that we get agriculture up and going again.

JM: And in terms of donations and appeals from outside of Solomons, how are things going there?

GK: It's been a little disappointing. We thought that there'd be a lot more funding come in for this very poor country. When you consider the scale that over half of this island, well over half of the population were affected in some way by the flooding. If you had that in that scale in a developed country the whole world would be throwing money at it. But there hasn't been a great deal come in for the Solomon Islands. I think it's gone off everyone's radar at the moment. There are still people that are living in very poor conditions here that we're trying to get to.

Graham Kenna says he hopes people from neighbouring countries don't forget about the Solomons Islands and will give more support so people there can rebuild their lives.