First hand accounts of a tsunami that towered above the coconut trees and devastated villages on Tonga's isolated northern island of Niuatoputapu, on Wednesday September 30 are emerging, following the first relief efforts to reach the area. Laura Jeffery, whose Palm Tree Island Resort was swept away, tells Matangi Tonga, about the death and destruction, and how the sole nurse on the island worked herself to exhaustion in the hours and days following the tsunami. The first medical relief team to arrive has now left, but Laura says there is an ongoing need for a properly equipped health centre, for a secure water supply, and to address some serious sanitation issues. Niuatoputapu, home to over 1,000 people, is located 267 km north of the Vava'u Group.

By Laura Jeffery, October 10.

with photos by Susana Matangi and Laura Jeffery

THREE waves actually hit Niuatoputapu, each successively bigger than the last - the final one higher than the coconut trees.

My own little resort (Palm Tree Island Resort) was the first hit and totally swept away - unfortunately my caretaker, Tulomia Tavake, who was the only person on Hunganga where the resort was situated, was killed, as would I have been myself almost certainly had I been there at the time.

I am a close friend of Paea Fifita, our nurse practitioner (there is no qualified doctor up here) and I have been working closely with her in recent days, helping out in any way I can.

Paea's home was in Hihifo on the beach. They saw the first wave surging towards them from the reef and immediately began running and calling out to others to run. All the family managed to outrun the wave, except Paea herself who went back to help our high school principal, and the acting government representative, Laveni Fonua. The two of them along with Haloti Kolofoou, a teacher who was also helping Laveni, were caught by the wave before they could reach safety - fortunately they all survived, Laveni with her clothes in shreds.



After the wave had subsided Paea returned to help the injured and then set up a new health centre in the Mormon Church, as the wave had swept through the main health centre, rendering it unusable. Paea's staff had retreated to the bush along with most of the island's population, not venturing down again till later, and she received invaluable assistance that day and through the following days and nights, from several of the Mormon missionaries, Sister Tohi, Sister Totau, and Mikaela Lino.

Medics left

A medical team finally arrived from Tonga on Friday and the most severely injured were quickly evacuated. Although the team were of great help in relieving the pressure on Paea initially, by Tuesday this week they had all returned to Tonga leaving her to take charge of dealing with the insanitary conditions caused by the destruction of so many poeple's toilets alone. By this stage Paea herself, having worked almost constantly day and night since the day of the tsunami, was near exhaustion.

In addition to the immediate health concerns, Paea also had to contend with a total lack of equipment at the health centre, which, despite repeated appeals to the health ministry in Tonga, and also to those nominally in charge of the relief project here, have yet to be supplied. These include such bare essentials as a steriliser for the health centre's equipment, an autoclave, a fridge for certain medicines, immunization serums, etc., a suction machine, and even an independent means of transport for Paea to get around in. Currently Paea's reliant on others, who are often not immediately available, so is often forced to go between villages on foot.

Camps

On Friday, Uatesoni Tu'anga, a health inspector, and Sione Mokena, an engineer, arrived from Tongatapu, and having resolved the immediate sanitation dangers in the villages, they and Paea have now had to turn their attention to a number of 'refugee' camps, which have been established in the bush by many people who fled the villages again following another tsunami warning on Thursday, and are now too afraid to return to what remains of their homes.

Another of Paea's concerns is the water supply here. Although all three villages' pumps are working at this moment, they are all old and have regularly broken down in the recent past, and, with no spare pump at all, should one break down again now the impact could be dire. In the past when the water supply was disrupted people relied on their rain water tanks, but the vast majority of these were either swept away or destroyed by the tsunami. The few that remained intact, if not contaminated by the sea-water, are now largely depleted.

Clearly, the relief effort here, although in many ways effective to date, is far from complete. A properly equipped health centre, a secure water supply, and a serious addressing of the sanitation issues really should now be the priorities.

laurajeffery [at] yahoo [dot] it">Laura Jeffery [2]