1. Introduction

Pacific island communities are exposed to a wide range of natural disasters, including cyclones, floods, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, as well as to the adverse effects of climate change such as coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion into farmland and fresh water sources.

Gizo, 5 January 2009 - UNICEF Pacific is providing immediate support to the victims of a tsunami that hit Rendova and Tetepare Islands in the Solomon Islands on 4 January. The tsunami was generated by a series of earthquakes and is the second major disaster affecting the Solomon Islands since another tsunami hit the Western Province of Solomon Islands in April 2007.

Already on the ground in Gizo working with reconstruction of schools affected by the 2007 tsunami, UNICEF Pacific was well positioned yesterday to immediately dispatch a rapid assessment

1. During the first quarter of fiscal 2009 (April to June), JICA (President Sadako Ogata) signed a total of 46 grant agreements.

Key details of two of the major projects are provided below. A complete list of the first quarter grant agreements is provided in the appendix.

2. The Philippine government has set poverty reduction as an important element in their mid-term development plan. As a key part of their policy on poverty reduction, they are implementing regional agricultural land reforms to improve the lives of small farm owners

North West Choiseul Constituency has completed the second stage of it's shelter rehabilitation program last week.

Parliament Member for North West Choiseul Clement Kengava says the stage involved distribution of cash to three hundred and one families in the constituency.

Nearly 500-thousand dollars was distributed and each family received one-thousand dollars to two-thousand-500 dollars each.

He says the first stage was carried out in December in which more than two-thousand-300 sheets of roofing iron and and nearly 400 pieces of ridge caps was distributed to 132 families

Australia and New Zealand have reaffirmed their commitment to the ongoing recovery and rebuilding of tsunami-affected communities in Solomon Islands.

The April 2, 2007 earthquake and tsunami caused widespread damage to houses and infrastructure in Western and Choiseul Provinces.

Two years later, Australia and New Zealand continue to work in partnership with World Vision, Save the Children and Oxfam to help rebuild not only homes and essential infrastructure, but also livelihoods and hopes in affected communities.

The Australian High Commissioner, Peter

Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Hon. William Haomae today welcomed a multi-million dollar Japanese assistance to rebuild the devastated Gizo hospital in Western Province.

Health services provided by the hospital were badly reduced when the hospital was hit by a 7.9 earthquake and Tsunami waves on April 2, 2007.

Minister Haomae and Japanese Charge d' Affairs Akira Iwanade and Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Mr Takase Kaneko officially signed the Exchange of Notes

This report covers the period from 1 July 2008 until 31 December 2008.

In brief

Programme summary:

Programmes have not changed radically since the previous report. Work has continued during the second half of the year in delivering technical support to the Pacific national societies in disaster management, health and care and organizational development-related fields. Key activities carried out in this reporting period include the first regional disaster response team (RDRT) training in the Pacific, the start of the HIV programme in Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia,

Province: Western

The Australian High Commission is pleased to announce its support to the Community Land Rights Awareness Project in Gizo, to be implemented by Oxfam International.

Speaking on Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Australian Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, announced Australian Government support for the project.

The project focuses on strengthening the economic and social rights of people displaced by the April 2007 tsunami in Solomon Islands' Western Province, and aims to increase women's participation

South Choiseul Constituency take lead in being the first to present to the Prime Minister a financial report on how tsunami relief funds was used to rehabilitate affected areas in the constituency.

South Choiseul received one-point-three-six million dollars from the national government to implement phase one of a tsunami reconstruction program that started in early January this year.

The program was entrusted to the Lauru Peoples Association for implementation.

Member of Parliament for South Choiseul, Reverend Leslie Boseto presented the report to Prime Minister Dr Derek