First boatloads of int'l aid reach tsunami victims

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
The first boatloads of international aid have reached survivors of a devastating tsunami in the Solomon Islands, but officials warn of a dire food shortage if supplies don't quickly get to hundreds of people camped on hillsides. At least 28 people died in Monday's tsunami and quake, measured at a magnitude of 8.1 by the US Geological Survey. The victims include a bishop and three worshippers killed when a wave hit a church and a New Zealand man who drowned trying to save his mother, who remains missing. Disaster officials said the toll was expected to rise Wednesday as rescue crews reached outlying villages that were flattened by the waves. Bodies could be seen floating in the water by authorities conducting aerial surveys of the destruction; there was no official count of those missing.