Diseases threaten to worsen the already dire situation in Fiji, devastated by the deadly cyclone Yasa, authorities warned on Sunday.
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Food and water were rushed to the areas most affected by the storm, which swept through the night from Thursday to Friday the islands north of the South Pacific archipelago, forcing more than 23 000 people to flee their homes.
Four people have died, entire villages have been devastated, crops shattered and livestock decimated.
“Agricultural sector workers have been sent to the hardest hit areas to help pastoralists get rid of cattle carcasses to limit the risk of disease,” said National Disaster Management Office Director Vasiti. Soko.
Fiji is regularly victims of violent storms, in 2016 Cyclone Winston killed 44 people.
“We are going to work a lot to find shelter and provide clean water, because we know that diseases appear after cyclones … diarrhea, dengue, and especially if access to hospitals is limited,” he said. ‘AFP Ilisapeci Rokotunidau, director general of the Fijian Red Cross.
“In our experience from Winston, three months after he was there one of the most important things was malnutrition.”
Authorities on Saturday assessed the damage valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
Shairana Ali, Executive Director of Save the Children Fiji, compared the devastated areas to “a war zone”.
The Red Cross is now trying to come to the aid of the population living in the Bua region, on the second largest island of the Vanua Levu archipelago, as well as in the hard-hit northern Fiji, as a priority.
A resident who after losing his job in Nadi, the largest city of Vanua Levu, due to the coronavirus pandemic, returned to Bua to rebuild his life lost everything during the devastating cyclone, reported Mr. Rokotunidau . “Everything has disappeared and he says it is useless to live”, according to the head of the Red Cross, who fears that this type of case will multiply.
“What is sad for many is that this is ‘happening now’. Christmas is supposed to be a happy time of the year and it will be a very dark time, ”he added.