600 plus soldiers help in Fiji's rehabilitation works

More than 600 soldiers are stationed in affected areas around Fiji to help with rehabilitation works, post Tropical Cyclone Winston.

This was confirmed to FBC News by Fiji’s Military Acting Commander Rear Admiral Viliame Naupoto.

He says the soldiers are not only helping in repair works but also in ration distribution, cleaning and disinfecting work done by the Health ministry.

“We have a team also helping the health people, our own health people are doing sprays in the villages that needs to be sprayed. We also have a bit of flexibility in our troops allocation so that if there is an emergency that arises very quickly.

“We can just very quickly turn infantry troops for example, get a health personnel with them and they can go and tackle spraying in villages, if there is a need that comes up so we have that sort of flexibility so that we can tackle them,” he said.

Naupoto says they have been working very well with their counterparts from New Zealand and Australia including French military.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Fiji aid mission to the battered Lau island group in the country's east says he was amazed that the death toll is not higher from Cyclone Winston.

Commander Humphrey Tawake said it's the first time in living memory that such a strong cyclone hit at the same time as minor earthquakes, sea surges and tidal waves.

He left the command post at Vanua Balavu island on Wednesday, saying he was shocked at the damage Cyclone Winston wreaked on the island.

“One thing that we must be thankful of is those that lost their lives, was not as much as we would have expected with the level of devastation that is here.”

Commander Tawake said the people on the most devastated islands will need months to psychologically recover and begin their lives again.... PACNEWS


SOURCE: FBC NEWS