Fiji not prepared for coming cyclone season

FIJI – There’s concern in Fiji that homes and schools will not be rebuilt before the upcoming cyclone season.

Cyclone Winston hit in February, killing 43 people and wiping out homes, schools and infrastructure.

With the cyclone season expected to start towards the end of the year, the government is coordinating with NGOs and international aid agencies in the rebuild effort.

Save the Children’s Andrew Johnston has just returned from Fiji and said that as well as building toilets and schools, he remained concerned about children knowing what to do when another big cyclone hits.

“Come November we don’t know what’s going to happen, cyclone seasons are now very unpredictable in the Pacific,” he noted.

“But we can be sure that something is coming so we want to get our work done as quickly as possible and hopefully the government gets onto getting those schools rebuilt as quickly as possible as well.”

Andrew Johnston said he has seen positive signs that children have improved psychologically since the disaster.

- RNZI