50,000 VILLAGERS FLEE HUGE WAVES IN PNG 
Severe flooding in New Ireland, Bougainville, Manus   
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (PNG Post-Courier, Dec. 12, 2008) – The disaster caused by severe sea swells which hit the east coast of New Ireland, outer islands of Bougainville, Manus and parts of East Sepik, is spreading. Yesterday, the director of the National Disaster Office Martin Mose confirmed the number of people displaced had risen to 50,000. The number could be higher as reports from other provinces have not yet reached them.

MAJURO FLOODED FOR THIRD TIME IN WEEK 
Some 300 residents flee their flooded homes   
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Dec. 17, 2008) – More than 300 people were forced from their homes in the Marshall Islands capital, Majuro, after high waves flooded low-lying areas for a third time on Monday evening. They were put up in local churches, youth centers and schools. The single road on the narrow island was shut down for about three hours to allow government clean up crews with heavy equipment to remove tons of rocks, coral and garbage that the flooding tossed onto the road and into people’s yards and homes. A 20-foot boat that had been sitting on land was picked up by onrushing waves and rammed into a house. There have been no reports of injuries. This is the third time in a week that high waves have inundated the atoll. The higher than normal waves were caused by a tropical storm that started 800 kilometres northwest of the Marshall Islands and has moved westward.

 
Island reefs are littered with ships like this, 
wrecked in summer cyclones. When this 
happens people often lose their only 
means of getting supplies from, and 
sending crops to, market

 
This is Majuro, the main Island (and town) 
of the Marshall Islands. Like many Pacific 
atolls, Majuro is low-lying and very narrow, offering little protection from cyclones