Page 10 - Islands Business January 2021

We Say We Say

TC YASA LESSONS

INVEST IN CYCLONE FORECASTING AND BUILD STRONGER NOW

Photo: Katalyst Foundation
By Samisoni Pareti of damage was put at F$1.99 billion (US$0.9billion), about 31%
of the islands’ GDP.
A war zone is what super cyclone Yasa left in its wake in Fiji Winston cost 44 lives.
last December. Already besieged by over 150,000 job losses Post-Yasa, the response from the Fiji Government with the
brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Fiji was still count- support of friendly foreign governments and development
ing the cost well into the new year. partners, complimented by local civil society groups, was
Destroyed homes, washed out roads, bridges and water swift and focused.
mains, uprooted vegetation including food gardens, downed Just a day or so after TC Yasa struck, Bainimarama and his
telecommunication towers and power poles and the loss of cabinet ministers were out surveying damage, and coordinat-
four lives, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said total cost ing relief work.
would run into the “hundreds of millions of dollars.” Roads were cleared and work began in earnest to restore
A United Nations-issued situation report specified dam- public utilities.
age at F$2.3m (US$1.13m) to medical clinics, and F$109m Australia and New Zealand offered military airplanes to
(US$53.45m) to agricultural crops and infrastructure. conduct damage assessment, with the former quickly respond-
It also said 101 school buildings were damaged in Fiji’s ing to a Fiji Government request and deploying one of the
north, although no estimates of the cost of repair was given. largest boats in the Royal Australian Navy fleet, the HMAS
More than 4,000 homes were damaged, a third of these Adelaide, to Fiji.
completely destroyed. It is anchored off the coast of Bua, west of Vanua Levu
Travelling through the western and southern parts of Vanua island, as I write, to spearhead reconstruction of schools as
Levu island in Fiji’s north recently, the sight was one of ut- Fiji’s 2021 schooling year is scheduled to open on 18 January.
ter devastation, reminiscent of what Fiji suffered during TC For civil society, the Fiji Red Cross has been at the forefront
Winston in 2016. of the relief work, coordinating with the Fiji National Disaster
Winston was also a Category 5 cyclone in which official cost Management Office (NDMO) in distributing relief rations and

10 Islands Business, January 2021