UN Children’s Fund staff are providing emergency supplies in the wake of a category two cyclone that hit Fiji, leaving four people dead, several missing, and thousands displaced from their homes.

Media are reporting extensive flooding, loss of electrical power, closed roads and damage to houses.

View photo essay of the damage

UNICEF Pacific Deputy Representative, Tim Sutton, has reported that there are now over 3700 people being housed in emergency shelters.

“The flooding will effect particularly the very vulnerable in Fiji, such as families living in informal settlements that are near to rivers and low-lying areas.”

Mr Sutton says that UNICEF staff are assessing the most urgent needs and are currently providing basic supplies such as collapsible 10-litre water containers and water purification tablets.

After a natural disaster when water supplies are compromised it is vital to ensure the availability of safe water to avoid the spread of diarrhoeal diseases, particularly to children under 5 who are the most vulnerable.

UNICEF will be taking the lead in three key areas of the emergency response: water and sanitation, provision of shelter, and the purchase and distribution of desperately needed food supplies.

“We also have medical supplies in stock in Suva and will be distributing these today.”

Mr Sutton says that the cyclone arrived up to six hours earlier than expected and was much more vicious than the one that hit Fiji two years ago.

“It was like standing behind a 747 jet taking off on a wet runway, with the hardest rain I’ve ever seen. You couldn’t really stand up comfortably in the wind. It was very intense.

“There’s a lot of damage. Lots of trees down, power lines down everywhere, all the roads around Viti Levu are still closed with flooding and landslides. It’s pretty major.”

How you can help
Donate to UNICEF's Emergency Fund

Listen to interviews with Tim Sutton in the NZ media:

Radio NZ Morning Report
Interview one
Interview two

TVNZ Breakfast