Emergency aid after cyclone rips through Fiji

UNICEF provides emergency aid after cyclone rips through Fiji

Wellington 15 December 2009. – UN Children’s Fund staff are providing essential emergency supplies in the wake of a category two cyclone that hit Fiji, leaving four people dead, several missing, and thousands displaced from their homes.

Media are reporting extensive flooding, loss of electrical power, closed roads and damage to houses.

UNICEF Pacific Deputy Representative, Tim Sutton, told NZ media from Suva that early indications are that at least 2,000 people have been displaced.

“The flooding will effect particularly the very vulnerable in Fiji, such as families living in informal settlements that are near to rivers and low-lying areas.”

Mr Sutton says that UNICEF staff are today assessing the most urgent needs and providing basic supplies such as collapsible 10-litre water containers and water purification tablets.

“We also have medical supplies in stock in Suva and will be distributing these today.”

After a natural disaster when water supplies are compromised it is vital to ensure the availability of safe water to avoid the spread of diarrhoeal diseases, particularly to children under 5 who are the most vulnerable.

Mr Sutton says that the cyclone arrived up to six hours earlier than expected and was much more vicious than the one that hit Fiji two years ago.

“It was like standing behind a 747 jet taking off on a wet runway, with the hardest rain I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t really stand up comfortably in the wind. It was very intense.

“There’s a lot of damage. Lots of trees down, power lines down everywhere, all the roads around Viti Levu are still closed with flooding and landslides. It’s pretty major.”

ENDS

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