Fears of disease in cyclone-hit Fiji amid race to reach remote islands
- 8 years ago
Aid agencies are rushing to distribute supplies in Fiji, ravaged at the weekend by Cyclone Winston which left at least 29 dead.
People in Rakiraki on the country’s main island waited patiently as boxes were unloaded from an aid lorry. They are the lucky ones; although most of the 900,000 population live on Fiji’s two main islands, many others scattered around the archipelago of 300 islands are much harder to reach.
Early assessments of the damage have been described by the Fiji Times as “not positive at all”.
Aerial footage of outlying islands taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force and posted on the Fiji government’s official website showed whole villages flattened by winds of over 300 kilometres an hour.
Flooding is also a problem: thousands of Fijians live in tin or wooden shacks in low-lying coastal areas.
A NZDF C-130 has delivered its 12 tonnes of relief supplies to Fiji in the wake of TC Winston. Kia kaha Fiji #NZDF pic.twitter.com/7snjprX8bk— NZ Defence Force (@NZDe
People in Rakiraki on the country’s main island waited patiently as boxes were unloaded from an aid lorry. They are the lucky ones; although most of the 900,000 population live on Fiji’s two main islands, many others scattered around the archipelago of 300 islands are much harder to reach.
Early assessments of the damage have been described by the Fiji Times as “not positive at all”.
Aerial footage of outlying islands taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force and posted on the Fiji government’s official website showed whole villages flattened by winds of over 300 kilometres an hour.
Flooding is also a problem: thousands of Fijians live in tin or wooden shacks in low-lying coastal areas.
A NZDF C-130 has delivered its 12 tonnes of relief supplies to Fiji in the wake of TC Winston. Kia kaha Fiji #NZDF pic.twitter.com/7snjprX8bk— NZ Defence Force (@NZDe