For the next 30 days Fiji will remain in a state of natural disaster, as declared by the South Pacific country’s government. It comes in the wake of this weekend’s brush with tropical cyclone Winston, a category 5 cyclone that wasn’t just the strongest recorded storm to hit Fiji, but the entire Southern Hemisphere.
The cyclone brought 200 mph winds when it made landfall over Fiji Saturday. It forced several thousand people from their homes and into emergency shelters, and worst of all took at least 21 lives by the time Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama released a statement on Monday. “There are Fijians out there who are without water, without a roof over their heads, without food and without essential services,” said Bainimarama. “It is our duty to determine their needs and provide them with the support they need as soon as possible.”
And the scariest statistics may still be on the way. with officials fearing the death toll and damages to rise when they’re finally able to reach the outlying islands that were hit the hardest. Cleanup began Monday, which only started the assessment of the devastation this storm caused. The island of Koro, for example, was in the eye of the cyclone and one of the hardest hit, according to the United Nations. That island is home to a about 3,450 people who were waiting for a relief team and damages to be assessed as of Monday morning. Apparently one of the biggest obstacles to assessing the devastation across the more than 300 islands is the several “communication blackspots” in Fiji. “Given the intensity of the storm and the images we have seen so far, there are strong concerns that the death toll won’t stop climbing today and that hundreds of people will have seen their homes and livelihoods completely destroyed,” says Oxfam in the Pacific’s regional director, Raijeli Nicole.
