Lessons of the tsunami the world forgot

At 7.40 a.m. on 2 April the Solomon Islands were struck by a major earthquake and a large tsunami. At least 52 people were killed, more than 900 homes were destroyed, and thousands of people were left homeless.

Little attention was paid to this at the time and not much more since. After all, they are a remote string of tropical islands far away in the South Pacific, hundreds of miles away even from Australia. However exotic and romantic they sound, it is perhaps not altogether surprising that they do not rate very highly on our list of priorities.

Yet the fate of the Solomon Islands is important. Not just because its people share the planet with us and so have claims on our common humanity. Not only because they are members of the Commonwealth, and so have claims on that common bond of solidarity. The biggest reason, apart from the overriding need to relieve human suffering, lies in the lessons that can be drawn from that unhappy land in the way we organise and distribute the help that we give.