3 vessels left for Lau to distribute relief supplies

Three vessels have left for the Lau Group to distribute relief supplies to those affected by the recent Tropical Cyclone Rae.

Provincial Administrator Lau, Iakobo Waqanidrola, says the MV Iloilovatu will cover Oneata Island to Ono-i-Lau, MV Veivute will cover the central Lau Group, including Vanuavatu, Lakeba, Moala and Tuvuca, and another vessel will go to Vanuabalavu.

He says their aim is to support the communities of Lau through the damage assessment report from the agriculture, which is an estimated 80 to 90 percent of damages to the crops.

Waqanidrola says the government is helping them with food rations consisting of sugar, rice, flour, tin stuff, milk, dhal and other items.

He adds the timeframe for their work is 21 days.

The Provincial Administrator says one of the challenges that they always faced in past years is communication, but with the improvements in communication now, having Starlink with Digi set and other services that are on the island, communication is much faster in terms of their initial damage assessment from their teams on the ground.

Waqanidrola says only one major damage that they received from Cicia where their crossway and jetty sustained 80 percent damage, which cannot be accessed by other communities, even other vessels.

He adds their plan is to take a cutting machine from Vanuabalavu to Cicia to fix the crossway.

He says the government is prepared to assist those in hard-to-reach areas of Lau during this very challenging time.

Waqanidrola says other services are also going with the three vessels to Lau, such as the Red Cross, Empower Pacific, and government departments.