TC Harold

Prime Minister, Dr. Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa said when the government came into office in October last year, not one house was rebuilt after Cyclone Gita which hit the country in 2018.

“Twenty-seven houses have been built. We are also planning for another 100 houses to be built in December 2020,” he said in Parliament on Monday.

He added the construction was faster because they had brought in new contractors, because in the past there were only six companies, building the houses, school buildings, and wharfs.

The cyclone caused widespread devastation, particularly in rural and maritime communities.

But even before this cyclone hit, Fiji, like the rest of the world were already fighting our own battle against COVID-19. Businesses have been affected and many have lost their jobs and are struggling to support their families.

This pandemic will continue to spread, and affect our people if not prevented.

Pacific Energy values the lives of every Fijian.

The assistance will facilitate Tonga’s rapid-response and recovery efforts, after Tropical Cyclone Harold last month.

Its annual insurance premiums are funded under the Pacific Resilience Program (PREP) in Tonga.

This is part of efforts to assist the operators as they respond to Tropical Cyclone Harold.

“PASO is currently providing technical expertise to CAAV to assist with airworthiness certificates renewals for commercial chartered operators’ aircraft that have had major maintenance carried out,” said PASO Operations Manager, Netava Waqa.

According to the Public Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Reynold ‘Ofanoa, the Ministry of Health is awaiting other Covid-19 machines and testing kits from the United Kingdom.

He informed development partners that renovations to the Health Centre at Mu’a are expected to be completed this week.

Dr ‘Ofanoa was part of a team that briefed development partners on 17 April about the government’s response to COVID-19 and TC Harold.

The team paid a visit to twenty key customers whose homes were damaged or destroyed during Tropical Cyclone Harold on 9th April.

The Cyclone also resulted in the destruction of Digicel Tonga's Éua Retail Store which was located at Ofeina Building on Ohonua near Éua's main wharf. 

In the visit to these twenty families, a sigh of relief and appreciation was extended to Digicel for the assistance and support during this time. 

The Skelton family, who have owned the resort since 2006, have also been left homeless in the aftermath of the recent Tropical Cyclone Harold which hit at the worst possible time, during a king tide.

Tonga felt the brunt of Cyclone Harold on 9 April 2020 as the then category four storm, packing gusts of up to 260 km/hr, passed to the south of Nuku'alofa.

The chief executive of the National Emergency Management Office, Paula Ma'u said the biggest impact from the cyclone was the sea surge, which had been put at three metres.

Cyclone Harold last week caused extensive damage on Fiji's remote southern islands.

Defence minister Ron Mark said the plane will deliver hygiene kits, shelter, tool kits, tarpaulins, satellite phones and portable generators.

Foreign affairs minister Winston Peters said the New Zealand government will consider further requests for assistance.

The plane will return with New Zealanders who have been stranded in Fiji by the Covid-19 lockdown in Suva.

According to the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) one person was killed and 26 others injured by the category four cyclone which also destroyed more than 2000 homes.

The NDMO director Vasiti Soko said TC Harold forced hundreds of families to flee their homes with over 1500 people still sheltering in evacuation centres across Fiji's central, eastern and western divisions.

Ms Soko said relief teams were distributing food, shelter kits and medical supplies while continuing their disaster assessments in the remote islands.

Disaster resilience is one of the main jobs for the Community Integrated Vulnerability Assessment group or CIVA in the village of Fasi.

Founder of CIVA, Fe'iloakitau Kaho Tevi, said the group started in 2017 and since then had been active in preparation for cyclones, help during the event and post-clean up.

Mr Tevi said the young people assessed which families were in need of assistance in Fasi and then worked together to generate funds to buy supplies or prepare homes with corrugated iron material as shutters ahead of an approaching cyclone.