Tonga recovering from Gita with help from its friends [1]
Thursday, February 22, 2018 - 20:03. Updated on Thursday, February 22, 2018 - 20:45.
By Pesi Fonua
Ten days after Tropic Cyclone Gita struck Tongatapu and ‘Eua with a Category 4 cyclone on the night of 12 February, life is slowly getting back to normal on the islands.
The National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) under the directorship of Leveni ‘Aho with the assistance of civil societies, civil servants and volunteers, is coping with the initial recovery stage from Gita.
A spokesperson from NEMO said Stage One Recovery included the distribution of tents, building tools, and clothes.
The four main bodies, managing the distribution into allocated districts of Tongatapu and ‘Eua, are: NEMO, Tonga Red Cross, Tongan Rotary in affiliation with Rotaries in Australia and New Zealand, and the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA).
Initially, only ADRA was distributing food stuff, but as of yesterday, 21 February another group, the Tonga Film Commission, started distributing food to "ten most needy families for ten days".
NEMO, receives most of the cyclone aid, and is assisted with its distribution network at this stage by thre NGOs, Oxfam, the Tonga National Youth Congress and Caritas Tonga. These organizations have their own programs, which they will get into once Tonga advances past this initial stage of its recovery from Gita.
Meanwhile, aid and donations are flowing into NEMO from overseas countries and local groups.
Australia
In response to a request from the Tonga Government on Tuesday, 13 February, Australia’s total assistance for the people who were affected by Gita is AUD$3.5 million.
An Australian Defence Force C-17 Globemaster landed at the Fua’amotu International Airport on 13 February with $350,000 worth of life-saving equipment, including emergency shelters, kitchen and hygiene kits, to assist over 2000 people.
Australia also provided additional funding of $3 million to support the work of the Tonga Red Cross, the Tongan Women and Children’s Crisis Centre and Australian NGOs.
European Commission
According to a statement from the European Commission, Suva, Fiji, the European Commission has signed an EU3 million humanitarian delegation agreement with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support the Federation’s disaster Relief Emergency Fund DREF. Funds from DREF are mainly allocated to small-scale disasters – those that do not give rise to a formal international appeal.
World Bank
The World Bank Country Director for Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands, Michel Kerf announced that Tonga has received a payout of more than US$3.5m from the Pacific Catastrophe risk insurance Company PCRIC – the first payout made by the region’s first catastrophe Risk Insurance platform established in 2016. PCRIC was formed as part of the World bank’s project PCRAFI: Furthering Disaster Risk Finance in the Pacific, which provides technical assistance to 14 Pacific Island countries, with financial support from Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
New Zealand
New Zealand has committed NZ$2.25 million to Cyclone Gita relief. In a statement on February 16 they announced, "We have also provided surveillance capability to Tonga to help assess the damage.”
Two New Zealand Defence Force planes arrived in Tonga on 13 February. They brought with them emergency supplies including family hygiene kits, shelter kits, jerry cans, tarpaulins, generators and agricultural tools.
The New Zealand High Commission Emergency Fund has also committed $14,000 pa’anga to the Tonga Red Cross, Caritas and the Tonga Youth Congress.
Japan
The Government of Japan is sending more emergency relief goods to Tonga at the request of the Tongan Government. To be provided through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the assistance includes tents, tarpaulin plastic sheets, generators and portable fuel cans.
Last August, Japan donated $3 million worth of equipment for disaster management, and that is currently being utilized for Cyclone Gita recovery operations. The equipment consisted of four cargo crane trucks, two water tank trucks, one septic tank truck, 15 tents, 20 mobile toilets, two life boats with engines, 15 chainsaws, 10 emergency lamps with generators, five manual forklifts, one mini excavator, and other technical equipment.
The equipment was donated through Japan’s Non-Project Grant Aid (NPGA) in light of Tonga's vulnerability to climate change and natural disaster events.
India
It has also been reported that the Government of India has contributed USD$1m for the rehabilitation efforts in Tonga following the massive destruction that was caused by TC Gita.
India has allocated USD$500,000 in the India-UN Development Partnership Fund for the rehabilitation efforts, and USD$500,000 will be provided for immediate relief assistance.
China
Meanwhile, in Tonga, on 17 February, the Chinese Embassy organized Chinese water manufacturers to donate 500 boxes of drinking water to NEMO, “to ensure the water supply for the Tongan victims of the Tropical Cyclone Gita. The three Chinese drinking water manufacturers that supplied the 500 boxes of drinking water were ‘Ofa-ki, Zenith and Omni.