When a wall of water came roaring down Honiara’s Mataniko River towards her riverside home, Anna Maena only had enough time to grab her two children and run.

She watched from a nearby hill as her home was destroyed and carried away, leaving the family with almost nothing.

“All the houses were washed away,” she says. “They didn’t even float, they just sank.”

Now Anna, 41, and her daughter Nelly, seven, and son Dickie, five, are among approximately 9000 people living in evacuation centres throughout Honiara city after what many Solomon Islanders are calling the worst floods in living memory.

At Mbokonavera School evacuation centre, where Anna and her family have been for a week, there are seven toilets for 1800 people and not all of them are working properly.

A week after the catastrophe, the death toll has reached 23 with many people still missing.

While teams comb the coastline for bodies, aid agencies are still trying to reach isolated areas of Guadalcanal where it is feared there may be more casualties and people in dire need.

There have been isolated cases of diarrhoea, eye infections, respiratory illnesses, malaria and dengue fever at the overcrowded evacuation centres.

The government is encouraging those who still have homes to return, so disease is less likely to spread.

Solomon Islands Red Cross Society Deputy Secretary General Clement Manuri says its focus right now is on providing safe, clean water.

The fire service has been supplying evacuation centres with water for washing and cooking, but drinking water has been desperately scarce.

“We are operating our NOMAD water purification units from dawn ‘til dusk but, as fast as we make clean water, it is used up.

“We hope more NOMAD units can be brought into the country as people are getting sick from drinking contaminated water,” he says.

Staff and volunteers have also been delivering non-food items such as blankets, hygiene kits, jerry cans, sleeping mats and family kits as part of a multi-agency group of NGOs including Oxfam, Save the Children and World Vision. The Honiara City Council and NDMO are coordinating food deliveries to the evacuation centres.

The future for people like Anna Maena and her children is uncertain to say the least.

No house, no belongings, and no plan of where to go now. “Living here is alright but it’s not a good future,” she says sadly.

Solomon Islands Red Cross Society estimates more than 50,000 people have been affected by this disaster.

The head of the National Disaster Council in Solomon Islands has thanked governments, agencies and individuals who have help the nation get through a week filled with destruction and tragedy.

Dr Melchior Mataki says he’s especially grateful to the people of Solomon Islands for their strength and resilience as they help and support one another.

He says he understands there are many people still in need of assistance and he wants to assure them it’s the government’s priority to do all it can to reach them.

Dr Mataki says he wants the families of victims to know how sorry he is for their loss and that the nation’s deepest thoughts are with them.

He says the National Disaster Council urges its partners to continue working together so the country can be restored to normalcy as soon as possible.

Women’s advocacy groups in Solomon Islands say there are 30 pregnant women in five evacuation cenrers and they warn women’s rights need to be protected during the current disaster.

The head of the Ministry of Women, Ethel Sigimanu, says disasters, whether natural or man-made, pose a major security threat to women and many are now totally dependent on the state to provide for their needs.

She says the current situation is placing a huge demand on women’s roles, making them even more vulnerable.

She says women’s organisations have been at the forefront of response efforts using their networks to support communities in evacuation centres and supporting people who are now homeless.