Cyclone Gita update

i had a wonderful experience the other week.  T and I were invited to a one day conference with reps from NGOs, entrepreneurs, business owners and a couple of churches and other interested parties.  the focus was on post disaster resilience in pacific nations.  It was instigated by a research group from Massey university and this is their 4th annual one.

We gave a short presentation on behalf of the humanitarian missionaries who were off-island (a common term here) and also about our work in family services.  these are the things the church has done that we know of:

• allowing access to the chapels as emergency shelter
• emergency container with chainsaws, generators, hand tools, wheel barrows, portable saw mill etc
• plowing of fields 
• collection and storage of root crops (the kape came from people on another island!)
• supply of water tanks (9) and water tower (1)
• 400 tarps supplied (free) and then plastic sheeting when they were all gone
• the yellow vest helping hands groups

I feel sure there were more things that we did not know about.  We were thinking that this was not really very much and we felt a bit embarrassed as we were being invited because 'the church has been such a big part of the post cyclone relief'.  Most of what we would share, and ALL of the stuff Family Services does, is stuff that we did before the cyclone - there was nothing new in response to the disaster.

So we went and did our presentation, and oh my goodness!!! for the rest of the day people kept going on and on about how grateful they were for the church and all that the church had done.  They talked about about building standards and how blessed Tonga was that the church builds such strong buildings.  They were so grateful that our support is not only for the members but for all who need it.  AND they were just full of praise that we were ALREADY doing exactly what is hoped for in the 'resilience' area - strengthening in preparation for hard times/disasters.  It was other participants who brought up the 72 hour emergency kits, and the Mormon Helping Hands service, that we also do, and we (T and I) hadnt thought about when we prepared our presentation.

It was such a privilege to be there and hear all that!  it felt like someone higher up in the church should have been there!

But that wasn't all that was cool about the day (and im not even talking about the free hot chocolate - which I, of course, didn't get to enjoy!)  there were presenters from the recovery effort teams and the meteorological service with facts about the cyclone that I had not heard.

• Tonga is the 2nd most vulnerable country IN THE WORLD for natural disaster
• there were 800 homes destroyed and 4000 damaged
• a number of public buildings were damaged or destroyed - including the Tongan Meteorological service, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
• the eye did make landfall - at the airport (less than 20km away from Liahona) there was an hour of complete calm before the winds starting going the other way.
• it was a huge and largely ignored blessing that the storm hit at low tide.  the results would have been completely different if it hit at high tide.  did you know the path skirted around the the east and then came back over the country from east to west?  was it waiting for low tide??
• although all of the met services around the pacific agreed that the cyclone would be a 5 by the time it hit Tonga, the winds actually decreased to a 3 as it hit, and then increased again to a 4 after passing us!!! what a miracle is that?  I still get choked up thinking about that.
• The classrooms across from me (like many many roofs) have not had any repair work on them yet and still have tarpaulins tied on to cover the holes,  I ahve seen other roofs that are just now starting to be repaired - 3.5 months later! 
• Tonga is the gold standard for disaster prep in that they consulted with elders in the villages about what to do in this kind of emergency and this info was put into the official written plan.  Villages who followed these guidelines (for example) saved many crops:
• cut some of the coconut palm leaves to protect the trees
• remove some of the cassava leaves so that whole plant is not damaged

and just some photos to close with:

frangipani flowers on the ground this morning!  I am typing around the edges of the flowers this very moment!

found a beautiful new beach - Veitongo, not good for snorkling but we climbed out onto those rocks where the water is splashing up and enjoyed being showered!  and there are places where the water spashes up like the blowholes

aaah the sunrise.  and the sky at night is incredible, but I can't photograph it without a good camera

this is a photo of our office from the edge of the reef at low tide

My mothers day stash!! holy cow!!  for someone who tries very hard not to eat chocolate, this is a challenge!!

Also at mothers day we were given a 'piece' of cake... see how giant these slabs are??

Love to you all!  i hope you have a great day, week, month!

Sis D