Humanitarian aid

A push to have donors send more responsible aid to the Pacific

Much of the aid sent is food or clothing from well meaning, generous people, but if it is unsolicited it can end up sitting on wharves, deteriorating, and then having to be thrown away.

As another cyclone seasons begins in the Pacific the World Food Programme is calling on people to donate responsibly.

The director of the WFP in the Pacific, Jo Pilgrim, said this unsolicited aid, arriving by the container load, or in cartons, can be food stuffs, water, clothing, household items and so on.

Europe gives more post-cyclone assistance to Tonga

Gita hit Tonga a month ago as a category four cyclone, leaving widespread destruction, particularly to the country's agriculture sector.

The EU gave an initial $US120,000 in post-cyclone assistance to Tonga last month.

A European humanitarian aid operations expert was also deployed to take part in a rapid assessment of the situation.

According to a statement from the EU's regional office in Fiji, the assessment indicates there are still many humanitarian needs to be addressed.