Cyclone Lola’s impact on the Solomon Islands: Crops destroyed, fears of ‘mass starvation’ in Tikopia after storm

Tropical Cyclone Lola as shown by RealEarth at 5.10am on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. Image / RealEarth

By RNZ

Cyclone Lola destroyed “most” of the food crops on Tikopia in Solomon Islands when it hit as a Category 5 system in October.

Civilian sailor Captain Scott Nguyen contacted RNZ Pacific after reading coverage of the disaster.

He was in Vanuatu providing cyclone relief at the time, but has since sailed to Tikopia with supplies, and said the damage on the west side was “extensive”.

Cyclone Lola destroyed "most" of the food crops on Tikopia in Solomon Islands, when it hit as a category 5 system in October.

Fears of 'mass starvation' in Solomon Islands' Tikopia after Cyclone Lola | RNZ News https://t.co/FCBYkZuUeY

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Almost all of the breadfruit trees, which were one of the community’s main sources of carbohydrates, had been knocked down.

“There is a tense atmosphere here,” Nguyen said.

A nurse in Tikopia told him: “We are lucky we won’t have people dying from lack of medicine, but I am scared that it won’t be long before we have people dying because of lack of food.”

Nguyen said the head chief on the island stressed that while everybody was okay right now, he was concerned about starvation once their supplies ran out. That would be in just two to three months’ time.

While the world's attention has been focused on the #COVID19 crisis, #RedCross #volunteers have been helping communities in Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Tonga recover from Cyclone Harold, which swept across the Pacific three months ago. pic.twitter.com/0BytnCxBUt

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While just four people in Tikopia were injured by the cyclone, “the critical issue is that without outside food, their existing food and emergency fermented food stocks will run out, and then there will be mass starvation”, he said.

With the gardens damaged, there was no back-up.

“The gardens are crucial because, without a supply ship, that is the only way they feed themselves,” Nguyen said.

“The crops are damaged, obviously, but a bigger issue is that there are trees downed all over the garden.

“They have two chainsaws and we gave them about 40 litres of petrol, which will help them clear the mountaintop gardens, but then it will take months before the new batch of crops produce anything edible.”

Nguyen said the most useful thing his crew has been able to do for the Tikopians is to connect them with the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) via Starlink.

One of the island’s chiefs, Ariki Tafua, has been using Starlink to video call Jonathan Tafiariki, the head of the Solomon Islands’ NDMO.

The community had been waiting for support, and Nguyen was the first sailor to arrive there with supplies.

A police patrol boat that was expected to depart Honiara in October carrying rice and medical supplies has been delayed for at least another week, he said.

A Solomon Islands medical doctor and Tikopian community spokesperson based in Honiara, Jackson Rakei, told RNZ Pacific in October that once that patrol boat does depart, it will take three days to arrive.

“The NDMO director Jonathan [Tafiariki] is trying to get the Australian military to use one of their supply ships to deliver aid,” Nguyen said. “They have been completely isolated.”

“Needless to say, they are extremely happy we showed up.”