Tonga’s King Tupou VI is urging his people to unify and rise from the ashes of the Hunga volcanic eruption and tsunami which devastated the country two weeks ago.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, the King said.

The King was at his residence on ‘Eua Island when the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted.

• READ MORE: Why no warning sirens before Tonga’s deadly tsunami hit? Minister unclear
• Concern grows over psychological trauma amid Tonga’s recovery
• Australia and New Zealand compete with China for Tongan influence
• Global aid effort underway for Tonga’s recovery from the Hunga tsunami
• Other Tonga volcano eruption reports

Three people have died and thousands have been left homeless.

In a broadcast to the nation this week, the King said Tongans who can withstand difficulties are those who stand together.

He said homes, plantations and livestock were destroyed.

The King was at his residence on ‘Eua Island when the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted.

Three died, thousands homeless
Three people have died and thousands have been left homeless.

In a broadcast to the nation this week, the King said Tongans who can withstand difficulties are those who stand together.

He said homes, plantations and livestock were destroyed.

He said that while the lives lost were few, the King expressed his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives “because it is a life”.

“At the same time we face new challenges and the HMAF patrol boats are evacuating people on the outer islands devastated as the engines of small boats are affected from the small rocks from the volcanic eruption.

“Our communications depends on what we have during times of natural disasters. But the people that can withstand difficulties are those that stand together.

“It is not how much we have financially or the monetary assistance from overseas but it is the willpower of the people and our belief in God so that we show love, help one another and be compassionate.

“In the aftermath of this devastation, we must all stand and work for our country as it is our inheritance because it only you and I who will feel for our home,” King Tupou said.

International relief efforts
An international relief response effort, headed by New Zealand and Australia, is underway with support from Japan, United States, France and Pacific island countries.

Financial support has already flowed in from the World Bank, ADB and other donor partners.

King Tupou also thanked the government, churches, the private sector, businesses and other stakeholders for their joint efforts.

He commended the local radio stations in issuing warnings and “helping to save lives during this natural disaster.”

Meanwhile, the Tongan government has approved the deployment of 100 Fiji military personnel to help rebuild the kingdom following the volcanic eruption and tsunami two weeks ago.

Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said the government was currently focussing on the humanitarian response effort before it allowed foreign personnel on the ground to help with the rebuilding phase.

50 Fijian engineers
The first contingent of 50 Fijian engineers, medics and other specialists have been in Brisbane since January 21 to join Australia’s Defence Forces heading to Tonga.

Fiji’s military said the group tested negative to covid-19 and had completed the required isolation period.

Army commander Major-General Jone Kalouniwai said the first contingent of 50 military personnel from Fiji was expected to be deployed to Tonga this weekend.

“Ten days was what we thought we could sustain on ourselves, the RFMF, and anything after that we would seek the assistance and support from the Australian Defence Force,” he said.

“But in this case, the Australians have been kind enough to offer us their full support and so it will be more than 10 days or whatever duration that the government of Tonga may feel, that would require troops on the ground to help and assist them in the tsunami relief support.

“It’s good to see our soldiers working together with the Australian government. This shows the bond between the two countries.

“This also shows the camaraderie between Pacific Island nations. We did this in the Solomon Islands in the last few months, and we are grateful to do it again in Tonga,” Major-General Kalouniwai said.

King Tupou VI’s address to the nation was recorded over the telephone from ‘Eua and broadcast on local radio last weekend. But it has only been translated into the English language and made available to RNZ Pacific this week. This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Al Jazeera News

It has been a week since the Hunga volcanic eruption and tsunami near Tonga destroyed large parts of the South Pacific kingdom.

For several days, it was cut off from the world, but aid is now flowing in, mainly from New Zealand and Australia while China claimed to be the first to donate money.

Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay reports from Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand.

• READ MORE: World rushes aid to tsunami-hit Tonga amid water, food shortage
• Other Tonga volcano eruption reports at Asia Pacific Report
• Other reports at The Pacific Newsroom

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

People in earthquake-affected areas of Papua New Guinea’s Highlands have asked international agencies to bypass the national government when providing relief.

The PNG Government has admitted that its response to the earthquake has been slow, hampered by damage to roads and access to funding.

In Koroba in Hela Province, local leader Stanley Hogga Piawi told the ABC’s PNG correspondent Eric Tlozek that more than two weeks after the 7.5 magnitude quake, people were still waiting for help.

LISTEN: Angry Highlanders call on relief agencies to sidestep PNG government

Continuous rain is hampering relief efforts in the earthquake-devastated regions of the Highlands, reports the PNG Post-Courier.

The wet may continue for a few more days as helicopters, the mainstay of the relief efforts, are now limited in the operation.

The National Weather Service (NWS) office has warned of a “high risk” of landslides, flooding and a slight chance of a tropical cyclone. The wet season has finally extended into the Southern and Highlands regions, the NWS said yesterday.

As Papua New Guinea experiences the wet season and unusual natural disasters, the NWS forecasting and warning centre assistant director Jimmy Gomoga is now urging people to listen to the radio stations for weather warnings updates.

Aircraft use restricted
The Australian and New Zealand defence forces said yesterday they had limited the use of their lighter aircraft due to bad weather.

The NWS said the wet season normally set in about December until late May when the dry season begins.

“According to the latest analysis from the weather office, we are in a weak La Nina phase and will mean higher rainfalls across the mainland PNG and mostly over the Southern region with high risk of flooding in the Momase, Highlands and Southern regions, high risk of landslides in the Highlands and deforested areas and 30 to 40 per cent chance of a tropical cyclone forming or passing within PNG,” Gomoga said.

He said the wet season triggered tropical cyclones so people living along coastal waters, particularly along the Solomon Sea and Coral Sea, must listen to weather warnings on the radio and take precautions.

“This weather we are experiencing will continue for the next 24 hours and may continue as the country is still in the wet season,” Gomoga said.

“The peak period has already passed and the month of April and May are the transitional periods and eventually into dry season which kicks into in the month of June.”

In the meantime, the weather office is closely monitoring the ocean currents in possibility of a tropical cyclone.

Water shortage ‘looming disaster’
While relief supplies continue to be delivered to earthquake-affected communities, a lack of water is proving to be a looming disaster, reports EMTV News.

In a briefing, Oil Search Limited managing director Peter Botten said the lack of access to clean water sources for many communities had increased the risk of sickness.

The company is now working with its partners, including state agencies, in an effort to deliver clean water to communities, to prevent the spread of water-borne diseases.

Among its relief efforts, Oil Search has deployed a dedicated medical team to reach affected communities – these teams have already noted an increase in water-borne diseases, with several medical evacuations already carried out.

Australian doctors to help
Australian Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has announced Australian doctors would come to Papua New Guinea to help medical teams in earthquake-affected areas, as fear of water-borne diseases emerge, reports The National and as also reported earlier by Asia Pacific Report.

“We know that over the next few days or weeks, most of the water-borne diseases will start affecting some of the population in the area. We have to lift our presence in medical support that we will have to extend to them,” O’Neill said.

“Dr Temu [Health Minister Sir Puka] has already cleared for the Australian doctors to come and help us…They will come and help our own medical specialists which the Health Department is putting together to dispatch to the remotest communities throughout the country.”

Sir Puka said they were mobilising a team from the Port Moresby General Hospital.
“We have formally requested the Australian government [to send doctors] because Australian doctors in emergency situations are well organised,” Sir Puka said.

“So we have asked them for assistance which will complement what we have.”

O’Neill said relief efforts were ongoing, reports The National.

Remote communities
“We are starting to reach many of the remote communities, supplying medicine, food and relief supply to the provinces affected,” he said, adding that the district development authorities in areas being allocated funding were assisting the people “which we are not able to reach”.

“Most of the members of Parliament and the district chief executive officers have been trying to mobilise the supplies and in particular medicine, and getting the injured and the sick out of the areas that have been affected,” he said.

He added that commitments, towards the government’s relief efforts so far had exceeded K100 million.

It included donations from governments – “private sector donations coming through is well over K5 million.”

• More PNG earthquake stories

More assistance from New Zealand is expected to arrive in the country today.

This was confirmed by a representative of New Zealand to the United Nations, speaking at a briefing on “The humanitarian situation in Fiji caused by cyclone Winston” organised by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The unnamed spokesperson said:

New Zealand currently has 67 defense force personnel on the ground in Fiji with 72 more arriving on a naval vessel on Sunday, along with an engineering company of 180 personnel.

To date, New Zealand has committed more than $3.2m to the response, including immediate relief supplies and construction materials and also technical teams to help Fijian authorities assess the extent of the damage and plan a response as well as medical, engineering and water production teams to support the government of Fiji’s response.

New Zealand joins with others here today to offer our very sincere condolences to the people and government of Fiji for the terrible loss of life and economic, social and environmental devastation at the hands of Tropical Cyclone Winston.

We are very thankful for the preparedness and leadership of the Fijian Government  who ensured the consequences of Cyclone Winston was less severe to what it could otherwise have been.

New Zealand’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully is also expected to be in Fiji tomorrow to offer his condolences in person and show support to the people and government of Fiji.

Heartbreaking but an inspiration
Fijivillage.com reported that Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said while it had been heartbreaking to witness the devastation left behind by “monster” cyclone Winston, it had also been a great inspiration for him to see the Fijian spirit alive and well.

Bainimarama said in the face of such adversity where family members had been lost or injured and many houses destroyed, he had been greeted with smiles around the country.

He said he was determined that the government would do everything it could and as quickly as possible to help those affected by Winston “get back on their feet”.

He added that the government was doing everything humanely possible to deliver water, food and shelter to everyone in affected areas.

Fiji’s Minister for National Disaster Management, Colonel Inia Seruiratu, has lashed out at political parties that are trying to politicise the issue of relief assistance.

At a media briefing yesterday, Seruiratu said:

It’s quite disappointing that the issue of distribution of rations or food or the other relief assistance has been politiciSed and this is not the time to politiciSe issues. We are aware that political parties are saying that certain ethnic groups are being marginaliSed or ignored, that is not so. And I wish to assure all Fijians that we’ll provide for them when we have the opportunity to come to you.

Meanwhile, the HMAS Canberra yesterday left the Port of Brisbane for Fiji to assist in the humanitarian assistance mission, transporting disaster relief supplies, equipment and personnel, including engineers and medical professionals.

The crew is expected to be in Fiji for at least a month.

Colonel Seruiratu said the government was expecting HMAS Canberra to reach Fiji by next Tuesday.

“We also received one of the aeroplanes from the French government in New Caledonia and one of the Casa planes is here with us. Today we have deployed the Casa aircraft to Vanua Levu, particularly to address the needs between Savusavu and Taveuni and there is future tasking for the same plane again in that area.”

Colonel Seruiratu said another plane had arrived yesterday and it would transport a water treatment plant to the people of Taveuni.

“By today we will be also receiving the second Casa plane and, of course, the priority for that plane will be in the Northern Division as well. Tomorrow the first task [that] will be allocated to that plane is to take a water treatment plant to assist in the water situation that the people in Taveuni are going through.”

The French military aircraft arrived in Fiji for humanitarian support with three tonnes of aid from the French Red Cross.

It was in Taveuni today for the first of many relief supply drops.

Newswire Fiji also reported that Colonel Seruiratu confirmed that 62,461 people were currently in evacuation centres around the country and the death toll remained at 42.

In his reflective series of editorials, Fred Wesley wrote that it was encouraging to see the international community rallying in support but “the real cost to our nation” was not yet known.

Fijians had been “prepared” for the cyclone but the sheer scale of the disaster was “overwhelming”.

“Thousands [of Fijians] had made a beeline for stores to stock up on food and water, and batteries for torches and radio sets. They fixed their homes,” Wesley wrote.

“Some had been proactive and converged on evacuation centres to sit out the cyclone.

“But clearly no one was prepared for the raw power and strength of Winston. The devastation caused by this massive system was overwhelming.”

The editorial, headlined “International support” said:

International support
FIVE days after the most destructive cyclone to hit land in the southern hemisphere struck us, rehabilitation assistance is slowly getting to affected people around the country.

For some, there is relief as the state assistance machinery reaches them. For some others, it is probably not fast enough as food and water supplies start to dwindle.

The process of prioritising areas to target first has been made difficult by the fact that quite a large number of people and areas were badly affected by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston on Saturday. Add to that the rising death toll and injury list. There can be no doubts about the fact that people were prepared for a cyclone.

Thousands had made a beeline for stores to stock up on food and water, and batteries for torches and radio sets. They fixed their homes. Some had been proactive and converged on evacuation centres to sit out the cyclone.

But clearly no one was prepared for the raw power and strength of Winston. The devastation caused by this massive system was overwhelming. No one was prepared for Winston’s average winds of up to 220km an hour and momentary gusts of up to 315km an hour close to its centre.

That was terrifying strength that turned Winston into a fully-fledged Category 5 mega-storm.

As it swept over Lau, and took a path straight through Lomaiviti, many Fijians battened down for the night, anticipating “just another” cyclone.

Because we are a country prone to such natural disasters, perhaps that has ingrained in us a sense of acceptance of our fate, and of cyclones in general.

That has now changed in the wake of Winston.

As the eye moved over Lomaiviti, the entire country for a moment was enveloped by this massive system that brought with it rain, very strong winds, flash floods and giant waves.

Winston left behind a nation that is now vulnerable. Fijians may be resilient. However, the devastation left behind by Winston is shocking and the recovery process will run into millions of dollars.

The real cost to our nation is yet to be known.

We may even guess the length of our recovery period.

As much as we may insist on being strong to get back on our feet, in such times, the assistance of our friends will be welcomed.

It is encouraging to see the international community rallying in support, to back the recovery process.

They are aiding state efforts by providing supplies, manpower and humanitarian assistance.
Because the cyclone left many Fijians without adequate food, water or shelter and cut-off from essential medical services, there will be some urgency to provide these.

The Indian Government, Australia, the US, the People’s Republic of China, France, New Zealand, Japan, French Polynesia, Tonga, Nauru, and the Asian Development Bank have made pledges in support of the State efforts.

In this, our time of great need, it is good to know that the international community is prepared to come to our assistance. This great show of support and concern is appreciated and will aid in our recovery process.

The onus now is on the powers that be to put in place measures to get needed assistance immediately to every affected Fijian around the country.