Word: islanded
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...series of earthquakes registering as high as 7.2 on the Richter scale caused a 10-ft.-high (3 m) wave to strike the Solomon Island of Rendova on Jan. 4, destroying the homes of more than 1,000 people--a third of its population. Recalling a deadly tsunami that claimed more than 50 lives in 2007, residents scrambled to higher ground--a move that may have saved them; no deaths or injuries have been reported...
...thinks of earthquakes in the Caribbean. It's not like it was a hurricane—it's not hurricane season. It was like someone told me a volcano erupted in the middle of the island," said Arbuthnott, whose mother, on a bus from New York, had not yet heard the news at the time of his television screening...
...Tensions flared most recently last week when the Chinese government announced it would begin developing high-end tourism on a few of the Paracels as part of an ambitious new plan to draw tourists from around the world to Hainan, a Chinese island province off the mainland's southern coast. But while planners dream of creating a Chinese Hawaii - with the Paracels' clear waters a potential luxury destination for divers - the leaked proposal made Hanoi bristle almost instantly. China has retained de facto control over the archipelago since seizing it in its entirety with gunboats in 1974, but Vietnam...
...comes amid a steady buildup of Chinese might in the region. Ralf Emmers, an expert on the South China Sea and associate professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, says the Chinese tourism gambit is a move "to make its sovereignty claims over these islands a fait accompli." Vietnam watchers point to an escalation of tensions since the 2007 completion of a strategic Chinese submarine base on Hainan Island, just over 124 miles (200 km) from Vietnam's eastern shore. The base has enabled Beijing to project its power not only in its own backyard...
...signed a code of conduct with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Vietnam is a member, pledging to refrain from activities that would destabilize the fragile status quo in the South China Sea. Few parties have kept to the spirit of the agreement. The Spratlys, an island chain far larger than the Paracels, are claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and nominally by Taiwan, and resemble a Risk game board with territories grabbed pell-mell over the years in a scramble for land and influence. Malaysia has set up a diving resort...