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Category: TC Yasa

  • Thousands still in evacuation centres in Fiji after Tropical Cyclone Yasa

    Tropical Cyclone Yasa aftermath … relief supplies are getting out to affected areas, but there is growing concern about the risk of disease. Image: RNZ/Save the Children

    By RNZ Pacific

    More than 4000 people are still in evacuation centres in Fiji nearly two weeks after Tropical Cyclone Yasa struck.

    Relief supplies are getting out to affected areas, but there is growing concern about the risk of disease.

    Officials said 4035 people were in 84 evacuation centres, most of them in the northern island of Vanua Levu, which bore the brunt of the category five storm.

    Health officials are now concerned about the possible spread of diseases like leptospirosis and dengue fever – particularly with more heavy rain forecast this weekend.

    The government said work crews and relief supplies have made it to all the affected areas, but items like water tanks and shelter are needed.

    Damage to a house on Vanua LevuA photo taken by the Red Cross of damage to a house on Vanua Levu after the cyclone moved south. Image: RNZ/AFP/Red Cross

    Permanent Health Secretary Dr James Fong told Fiji Village that it normally takes at least a month for these cases to develop after a cyclone.

    Dr Fong said they had not received any reports of anything out of the ordinary as yet.

    The Fiji Emergency Medical Assistance Team is in the Northern Division to carefully monitor the health situation after Tropical Cyclone Yasa.

    The team are establishing a forward operating base.

    An Australian navy ship is on the way to help, but its crew will be subject to strict coronavirus protocols with little public interaction.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

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    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Fiji declares state of disaster as TC Yasa wreaks havoc in Vanua Levu

    By RNZ Pacific

    Many houses in Fiji’s Vanua Levu have been destroyed, some families sheltered under beds and tables in their houses and others in cane plantations, as Cyclone Yasa wreaked havoc in many parts of the Northern Division, Fiji Village reports.

    Buildings and crops were been destroyed in Fiji’s second largest island and there’s been widespread flooding and landslides.

    Fiji had earlier declared a state of natural disaster.

    Yasa is heading south through the Southern Lau Island group.

    In Bua, some people had to flee as their houses disintegrated in the wind.

    In Koro, destructive winds and heavy rain are being felt in Nasau Village and people have been relocated to two evacuation centres.

    Panapasa Nayabakoro, who lives in Koro, said 32 people are sheltering at the Nasau Health Centre and the rest are in a school. He said most of their houses are flooded and some were houses blown away.

    A teacher at Nacamaki District School in Koro, Ilisabeta Daurewa, said they are experiencing damaging winds and several kitchen sheds in the village have been blown away.

    She said more than 100 people are taking shelter in six classrooms at the school.

    Taveuni, where more than 1,400 people spent the night in evacuation centres, is still being hit by winds.

    Emergency personnel will be able to assess the scale of the damage once it is safe for crews to go out, the National Disaster Management Office says.

    Yasa shows signs of weakening
    Yasa is showing signs of weakening after striking overnight, but it remains a category five storm.

    Sakeasi Waibuta from Fiji’s Met Service said the storm sat over Vanua Levu for three hours.

    “It remains …a category 5, but intensity-wise for the winds, it has dropped from 240 kilometres per hour to 200 kilometres per hour.

    “On satellite it is showing signs of initial weakening.”

    Waibuta said the were still waiting on full reports on damage, and storm surges had also been expected.

    This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.