Quake damage may close Niu'ui Hospital [1]
Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - 18:47. Updated on Saturday, May 10, 2014 - 18:20.
The Niu'ui Hospital in Ha'apai may be declared unsafe for patients, following the May 4 earthquake that has damaged rooms, and has left the hospital without essential support services.
A decision on whether the people of Ha'apai should continue to use the Niu'ui Hospital will be made by government following a visit to Ha'apai by a team from the Ministry of Works, led by architect Leveni 'Aho, to assess the structural damage.
Meanwhile, seismic tremors or aftershocks of the big 7.9 earthquake are still being felt today in Ha'apai.
Dr Reynold 'Ofanoa, Medical Superintendent, of Niu'ui Hospital suspects that the foundations of the building were damaged in the earthquake, and therefore it is not safe for the people of Ha'apai to continue to use the hospital.
He said that although there is no visible damage to the ward but other rooms such as the lab, and x-ray room were badly damaged, and also the x-ray equipment was damaged and it could not be used.
At the time of the earthquake, Dr 'Ofanoa said there were eight patients at Niu'ui, but some were released once they became stable. He said it was preferable for patients to be released, since immediately after the earthquake there was no water and no electricity, but these had since been restored.
Woman injured in quake
At the moment there are only three patients at Niu'ui. A woman who was injured during the earthquake has been sent to Nuku'alofa for treatment. The Mo'unga'one woman fell and suffered a wrist injury while she was trying to escape with her children from their home. "We could not do anything for her. She has to be x-rayed, but there is a crack in the darkroom where light comes in and the x-ray machine was knocked to the ground and it was broken," explained Dr 'Ofanoa.
Dr 'Ofanoa said that if government decides to vacate hospital, they could possibly use the nurses quarters as a temporary hospital, while either the old hospital is renovated, or a new hospital is built. "The other factor to be considered is that may be we should move to a new location."
Dr 'Ofanoa said that since the shake up last Wednesday they have had tremors everyday and night, "even this morning there were a couple of tremors."
Damage
Leveni 'Aho said this afternoon in Nuku'alofa that their finding was that the wards and the operating theatre at Niu'ui were still intact, but the x-ray facility and the lab were damaged. He said that in his preliminary report to government he was recommending that the lab and x-ray facilities be either constructed in another location, or a mobile facilities should to be introduced. He thinks that the wards and the theatre might still be used.
With regards to the wharf he said that the damage was not serious enough to disrupt shipping.
Water shortage
One of the hardships that the people of Pangai have been enduring since the earthquake is a shortage of water.
A restaurant and a guest-house owner, Trevor, said that the situation was driving him crazy. "Before the earthquake we had this problem, the water run for a little while and then stops, leaving me with a pile of dishes and laundry to deal with. It is not good for tourism to Ha'apai, and now there is a church conference and it could be a health hazard," he said.
This frustrated tourism operator said that the earthquake had made things worse, but he had been enduring this water problem during the past five months.
There is a mixed reaction to the water problem, because Dr Reynold 'Ofanoa said that they were having problem with their fresh water supply because all their water tanks have been punctured, but the public water supply resumed once electricity was restored. The police station also did not have any problem with the town water supply.
USGS
The US Geological Service recorded four more moderate seismic tremors ranging from magnitude 5 to 5.4 this week in Tonga - a 5.4 on Sunday May 7 at 3.33 pm, and three quakes on Monday May 8, a 5.1 at 12.56 am, a 5 at 1.30 am and another 5 at 4.21 am.