News

Majors David Bennett and Mark Ennever from New Zealand, along with The Salvation Army’s emergency services government liaison officer in Fiji, Lieutenant Saimone Gataurua, today met with the Fiji National Disaster Secretary Meleti Bainimarama and representatives of the Fiji Government’s Disaster Management Committee (DISMAC).  There was agreement that The Salvation Army will work with people in the Western region, in locations where we are already established and which has been devastated by Cyclone Winston. We will begin assessment tomorrow (Saturday) in the hard-hit area of Rakiraki. The Fijian Government is very supportive of our working in Rakiraki.  One of the...

This photo was taken by our Divisional Commander in Fiji, Major David Noakes, when he visited The Salvation Army's work in Rakiraki Village on Tuesday. He described the scene, typical of many others across Fiji, as 'catastrophic'. Please support our Fiji Emergency Appeal to fund food, safe water and shelter for the people of Fiji. Major Noakes reports, 'Fiji is severely battered and its people extremely traumatised. The damage in villages is extensive, with a great many homes destroyed and left roofless. There is kilometre after kilometre of crop damage, with power lines down.’

The round-the-clock curfew was lifted at 5:30 am this morning (Monday). We are now making plans to travel as much as the roads allow to further assess the after-effects of Cyclone Winston and appropriately respond to needs in those communities where we are at work. Today we are hoping to inspect The Salvation Army’s work at Rawai and Nasinu. We have not yet been able to make contact with our centres in Savusavu or Taveuni and therefore have no idea as to the scope of the situation in those locations. The Ba Corps and officer quarters were badly flooded, with...

An update from Majors David and Vyvyenne Noakes, Salvation Army divisional leaders in Fiji: We endeavoured to set out this morning from Suva to check on Salvation Army evacuation centres only to find our road was blocked at both ends – and a curfew is still in place. Have instead resorted to phoning, although some centres still cannot be reached by phone. Due to the curfew, some of our evacuation centres were prevented from opening, which was a pattern around the country. At around noon today we understand that our Nadi evacuation centre was full, there were 40 people at Lomaivuna,...