Independent New Zealand photographer Geoff Mackley surprised Friday when he landed in the island with the helicopter chartered by The Weekend Australian. "The whole way there I thought I would see hundreds of dead and festering bodies, but instead we were just overwhelmed with people running toward the plane," Mackley exclusively told the paper and added "Every single person was alive and there they were, standing in front of me."

More than one thousand people live on Tikopia. They explained to Mackley they survived by fleeing to the high country - along paths Tikopians have used for centuries during cyclone emergencies- to shelter in mountain caves to avoid from hitting by strong winds and sea waves, the daily reported.

Tikopia and Anuta are two remote islands 1,000 km east of the Solomons's capital Honiara. The two islands were hit by a powerful cyclone last Saturday and people had speculated that there must be very heavy casualties after 370km/h winds destroyed almost totally the island. All communications has been cut since the cyclone attack.

Earlier this week, Mackley had once flew over Tikopia as an independent photographer and described on his web site "Every tree on the island has been blown over or shredded, the island is completely denuded of vegetation, almost every building has been damaged, a few remain intact, while others have been shredded, and the sea has come through some villages, burying them." He concluded "This sort of destruction is normally seen only after a strong tornado or volcanic eruption."

A rescue boat reportedly left Honiara on Friday and will reach the islands on Sunday.

The fortune of other islands on the cyclone path is not known.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2003)