Soledad Miria (in the Kuna language Miria Ubigantupu or more recently Mirya Ubgigandub) is a small Caribbean island of Panama with 1,014 inhabitants. The island is only 700 metres long but is densely populated. At approximately 9:30 pm on December 26, 2006, a fire started by the explosion of a gas cooker destroyed 39 buildings within 10 minutes, approximately half of those on the island. 348 people were injured, but none died. The island was left with no potable water.[1] Many of the inhabitants of the small island took to the sea in fishing boats to avoid the flames.