Pangaimotu Resort hopes to reopen soon [1]
Monday, February 19, 2018 - 19:54. Updated on Tuesday, February 20, 2018 - 19:11.
“The sooner that we reopen for business, the better,” is Pangia Emberson's reaction to the devastation of the Pangai Motu Island Resort by Tropical Cyclone Gita during the night of 12 February.
“We have been closed for a week, it will be two and possibly more . . .”, said Pangia who was all set to start repairing and restoring the resort as soon as possible.
The resort was made up of seven cottages, a bar and a restaurant, and an office with a souvenir shop.
Pangia estimated that 75% of the facility was damaged. The four cottages with thatched coconut leaves roofs were all severely damaged, but three with the iron are okay, he said.
“Initially we will repair what we still have in place, one step at a time.”
Pangia was running the Pangaimotu Island Resort when Cyclone Issac struck Tongatapu in 1982, but he said that Gita was definitely more powerful “but fortunately it was low tide when it struck.”
He now plans to move the construction of the the office, the bar and the restaurant inland a bit. “I want to build a foreshore across the front to protect the facility."
Pangia said that after the hurricane warnings on 12 February, their one remaining guest left the island along with some of their staff.
When Gita hit the small island, the eight people left on the island, Pangia, his wife ‘Ana (Big Mama), their son Andrew, ‘Ana’s mother and father, John, a brother of Pangia and two of their staff.