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Summary news for March 2005
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The recent bout of cyclones since early February, five in a row, has left the country in a turmoil as Government and outside assistance battle to restore as much general services as possible. Worst affected were the outer islands of Pukapuka and neighboring Nassau with 80 percent of homes shattered or no longer ‘livable’.
A Disaster Management committee has been set up to help establish priority areas which need urgent attention for both islands and others hit by the cyclones.
Miraculously no casualty was reported.
Government’s main concern now is to get relief supplies to the outer islands. The Pukapuka airport is safe enough for landing and local shipping is standing by ready to ship the supplies to the island.
A nation wide appeal is calling for donations of any kind to help the people of both islands and food, water, clothing as well as building materials are now loaded on the inter-island ferries. Government has allocated a huge amount of funds to assist and international Aid agencies including NZAID, AusAID, France and others have come forward to help also.
Meanwhile Pukapuka island officials say their main concern at the moment is potential health problems caused by contaminated water.
“Almost all privately owned water tanks and those at government facilities contain seawater and non-drinkable” according to school principal Vaopaaki Tearetoa.
He said island elders were concerned for the children going without water.
Vaopaaki also reported that some families without shelter were now sharing the school house which survived the cyclones with others.
The hospital has been partly damaged but the new maternity ward wing remains intact where medicine was removed to before the damaging weather.
The Cook Islands Red Cross is preparing to send tarpaulins to the islands to be used as temporary shelters until damaged homes have been repaired to a livable state.
Taro (a main staple on the islands) patches have been swamped by seawater and coconuts have been shaken off the trees. There is very little food on Pukapuka and Nassau now.
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The MV Miss Mataroa who left for Pukapuka last week is expected to turn around with more relief supplies when it returns from the Northern Group this weekend. National Disaster Management coordinator Denise Rairi CEO of the Office of the Prime Minister, says earlier supplies offloaded in Pukapuka will not last long.
Rairi says while food and water remain top priority a boat from Samoa has off loaded a shipment and has distributed 10 litres per household.
She also said about 15 homes in Pukapuka are in good shape and Nassau residents will have to be evacuated to Pukapuka for the time being.
There are about 19 families in Nassau and about 630 in Pukapuka.
Internal communication in Pukapuka is still down but outside connections has been restored.
Meanwhile a team of international assessors from the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) who is in Rarotonga will focus on the Outer Islands.
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The Cook Islands government in conjunction with the NZ Government and the Cook Islands Red Cross has offered up to NZ$200,000 in an emergency package to assist families in Rarotonga who had their homes damaged by the cyclones.
The package allows qualifying families up to $10,000 to repair their homes but should the cost of repairs be more than $2,500 the owner is required to put in a 25% contribution.
Over 150 homes damaged by the cyclones in Rarotonga were listed eligible for the emergency package.
A water desalination plant has been given to the people of Pukapuka by the French government. The equipment will help alleviate the water problem on the island.
French military staff and an a team of NZ based Cook Islanders are also in the country to help with the recovery programme after the cyclones
And speaking from Pukapuka school principal Tearetoa has requested for government officials visiting the island to take their own food supplies.
He said “it’s not like the good old days when looking after visitors was no problem.”
Rarotonga (one of the worst hit by the cyclones) residents are picking up where they left off before the cyclones and most general services returned to normal.
Not only did Rarotonga experience high seas which washed almost 100 metres inland in places but hurricane force winds toppled coastland trees and lifted roofing off many nearby homes.
Huge rocks brought ashore by the near 40 metre waves slammed into some building walls in Avarua town causing total damage.
Favourite drinking spot and top restaurant Trade Jacks had its fourth soaking in as many years leaving nothing but an empty shell.
Other waterfront eating houses got similar thrashing and the Avarua main road was a total mess.
There was suspected looting during the onslaught of the worst cyclones Meena and Percy but police found very little evidence.
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Health Minister Peri Vaevae Pare was today present at the opening of Rarotonga’s first Eye-Clinic in the Public Health premises in Avarua. Funded by NZ’s Fred Hollows Foundation unveiling of the entrance plague was performed by the foundation’s administrator Louisa Semmons.
Vanuatu based Dr John Szetu who is the medical doctor for the foundations’ eye care programme told officials and other guests at the opening that people in the Cook Islands can now have their eyes tested, be booked for more complex procedures and purchase the correct spectacles for their vision disorder.”
Clinic nurse Tereapii Teina is encouraging people with diabetes to visit the clinic and have their eyes tested.
Diabetes can contribute to poor vision or loss of eyesight.
Teina is visiting schools to check pupils’ eyes and push for them to have their eyes tested annually.
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