'AMI' KILLS 22; LEAVES THOUSANDS STRUGGLING
SUVA: 20th January -- It is exactly one week now since Cyclone Ami struck the Northern and Eastern divisions of the Islands of the Fiji Republic. It has taken all of a week to gather information of any accuracy, since all telecommunications were destroyed, other than some emergency satellite links being re-established in some population areas; roads, where they existed were made impassable and ship docking facilities were also destroyed.
But Ami's toll now has the nation reeling - of the 22 presumed dead, 14 bodies have so far been recovered. Virtually all were drowned: one group in the Northern centre of Labasa when the local river broke its banks and swept them away in the middle of the night, a second group who did not understand (or follow) the cyclone warnings and put out to sea. One was swept away when a tidal wave hit the low-lying islands of the Lau group (near Tonga).
Three Catholic parishes have been severely affected: Labasa, Napuka, both on the large Northern island of Vanua Levu, and Wairiki or effectively the entire island of Taveuni. The writer was on Taveuni a few days before the cyclone struck and is now informed that all the areas he visited have been devastated. The Marist family, particularly the Marist priests and Sisters, are responsible for the pastoral care of Taveuni with its 12,000 people perhaps three quarters of whom are Catholic. At Tutu, which is the Marist formation centre and also hosts the Young Farmers Programme, as many as 100,000 dalo plants have been destroyed, along with all their yaqona (kava). If one realizes that each dalo is worth a dollar, one rapidly appreciates what this will mean to their notion of financial self-sufficiency. Kava is worth more still. Rather more drastic is the fact that other than its saleable value, dalo along with tapioca (cassava) and other root crops are their daily bread. All have been destroyed. This is the case throughout the North within a radius of some 100 km either side of the eye of the cyclone. The 'eye' crossed the 180 degree parallel over Tutu itself.
It was the cyclone that nobody took any notice of! Cyclones are common place in Fiji at this time of the year but Suva, where the Salesian community resides, has not had a severe cyclone for 10 years - the city is complacent. Ami had no direct impact on Suva other than some leaking roofs (nothing can handle the volume of water released in cyclonic conditions!) and broken trees. The weather bureau gave little advanced warning of Ami; most of us only heard of it for the first time on Monday morning. It struck by 5 pm Monday afternoon. Fishermen had not realized the potential dangers other than usual warnings of high seas. Labasa had not had direct impact from a cyclone in living memory! 12 hours later it was under 9 feet of water. Not a single house or business in the busy Northern sugar town escaped damage.
Next week the kids return to school. For people in Vanua Levu and Taveuni and Lau, that may not be the case. One Catholic secondary college, St Bede's in Savsavu, will be unable to open since it lost its roof. But other than structural damage to many schools, the greater problem is that of basic necessities - food to survive in the first instance. There will be no money for school fees, that's for sure.
