Quake, tsunami change geography of Solomon Islands

by Kaitlin | April 9, 2007 at 08:03 am

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Last week's earthquake and tsunami that struck the Solomon Islands has had a permanent and devastating effect on the region. The tectonic shift caused large fissures to form in the island (some as wide as 50 centimetres) and extended the shoreline by 70 metres. Essentially, the seismic activity "lifted" the islands up out of the sea.

At the same time, vast areas of coral reef were exposed, killing both the reef and a lot of fish and plant life that called it home. The destruction of the reef in particular is distressful to islanders.

He said dive sites once ranked among the best in the world were dying because the tremors had upset the fragile natural ecosystem.

"Some of the most beautiful corals are the most delicate and those are the ones that have been affected," he told AFP.

"The more robust corals are still there but it's the ones that people want to photograph, the sea fans and the colourful corals, that are dying."

Kennedy said the damage to the coral reefs could dry up the region's major source of overseas money.

"Diving is huge here, it employs so many local people," he said. "The fear is that people are going to come here and see the reefs are damaged then tell people not to come back for a few years until they recover."