Credit: Kelsi Doscher/New Zealand Red Cross
JULY 2014 | NEWSLETTER
Hulita Poutele, 68, who sheltered under her house with her five grandchildren when Tropical Cyclone Ian hit her island of Mo’unga’one in January.
MALO ‘AUPITO: THANK YOU
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t has been seven months since Tropical Cyclone Ian struck the Ha’apai island group in Tonga and the recovery continues with the help of materials sent from New Zealand Red Cross. In January of this year, Tropical Cyclone Ian displaced over 2,000 people, including 68-year-old grandmother Hulita Poutele. Hulita lives on the remote Mo’unga’one Island, two hours by boat from Ha’apai. She remembers the storm. “It was a very, very strong wind. The roof blew away and my son said ‘go under the house’. So I went under the house with my six grandchildren. Once we were under the house the walls fell in.”
Leaning on her walking stick, Hulita looks at the concrete slab where her house once stood and describes what it was like in the tiny crawl space under the foundations.
New Zealand Red Cross aid worker Kevin Duignan was deployed to the small island with much needed supplies of shelter kits and tarpaulins, which he used to help the locals patch up their buildings and homes.
“It was very muddy and filled with water. All I could hear was roofing iron blowing around. We didn’t talk – everyone was silent because they were very scared. I was just hoping we could survive.”
The shelter kits are designed to help people make their houses liveable until a more permanent solution can be found. They contain building materials such as tarpaulins, ropes, saws, nails, shovels, machetes and hammers.
Afterwards, Tonga Red Cross staff and volunteers were some of the first people to reach the island from outside. Hulita’s son, Anau Poutele, says he and his mother were very happy when they arrived two days after the cyclone bringing tents, kitchen sets and hygiene kits. Thanks to the support of people like you,
Anau says the shelter kits enabled him to put a roof over his family’s head again. “If it wasn’t for Red Cross we would be severely affected. We are very grateful to Red Cross for their help. It shows they care.”