Kiwi aid heads to battered Fiji

A Royal New Zealand Air Force Hercules was scheduled to arrive at Nausori Airport near Suva with emergency supplies this morning as Cyclone Tomas victims in Fiji count losses which are expected to run into millions.

Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama will go with a Government assessment team to the severely hit Northern and Eastern Division today on either a Fiji naval boat or a Royal New Zealand Air Force plane. Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said Fiji had requested international help.

The Fiji Waikato Community committee is planning to meet in Hamilton soon to discuss what sort of help Fijians living in the Waikato can give.

Maika Bolatiki, the Fiji Sun newspaper's weekend editor, said from Suva this morning that reports had started to trickle in as telephone communication was gradually restored.

Some media reports of cyclone-related deaths had not been officially confirmed, he said.

From Nasauva, Udu Point, in Vanua Levu, village headman Seteo Taukeinisava said a man died of a heart-attack during the height of the cyclone.

Mr Bolatiki said Cikobia island in the Northern Division appeared to be the hardest hit. Preliminary reports said many villagers on Cikobia and other islands were without proper drinking water and food was fast running out. Mr Bolatiki said Cyclone Tomas had left a swathe of destruction from the Northern to the Eastern Division.

Viti Levu, the main island, and the Western Division had been spared, he said.

Schools in these areas reopened today and workers returned to work as a curfew, imposed during the height of the cyclone, ended.

More than 17,000 people are still in evacuation centres, many of them schools.

Mr Bolatiki said Fijian authorities with the help of the army and the navy were trying to return victims in stricken areas to their homes as soon as possible so school could resume.

Mr Bolatiki said Tomas was the worst cyclone since 1979 when Meli caused widespread destruction.

Reports from the groups of islands of Lau, Lomaiviti and Vanua Levu said waves had destroyed coastal roads and caused havoc to villages.

Villagers of Yadrana on Lakeba, in Lau, felt lucky that Tomas had hit during the day. Villager Mere Finau said many would have lost their lives if it had been night. Waves had flooded villages and roofs were blown away.

- © Fairfax NZ News