Mission to relieve drying islands
Source: Agencies |
October 8, 2011, Saturday
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A DROUGHT-STRICKEN Pacific island nation is down to its last few days of water, prompting a relief operation by New Zealand and Australia with water-making equipment.
Tuvalu, the world's fourth-smallest nation sitting just below the equator, has declared a state of emergency and is rationing water.
Tuvalu has a collective land mass of just 25 square kilometers with its highest point five meters above sea level. It is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels.
Air force planes from New Zealand and Australia were combining yesterday to transport a desalination plant to Tuvalu, a group of small islands about 3,200km northeast of New Zealand.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said: "The large army desalination equipment will help ease the critical shortage and should provide a sufficient buffer if the dry period continues."
Residents in the capital, Funafuti, have been rationed to two buckets of fresh water a day. The country has a population of fewer than 11,000 on nine low lying atolls.
Emergency water supplies have also been shipped to the Tokelau island group, where 1,300 people are down to a few days water because of drought.
Rain in the region has been well below average for the past six months.
Tuvalu, the world's fourth-smallest nation sitting just below the equator, has declared a state of emergency and is rationing water.
Tuvalu has a collective land mass of just 25 square kilometers with its highest point five meters above sea level. It is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and rising sea levels.
Air force planes from New Zealand and Australia were combining yesterday to transport a desalination plant to Tuvalu, a group of small islands about 3,200km northeast of New Zealand.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said: "The large army desalination equipment will help ease the critical shortage and should provide a sufficient buffer if the dry period continues."
Residents in the capital, Funafuti, have been rationed to two buckets of fresh water a day. The country has a population of fewer than 11,000 on nine low lying atolls.
Emergency water supplies have also been shipped to the Tokelau island group, where 1,300 people are down to a few days water because of drought.
Rain in the region has been well below average for the past six months.
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