In the early hours of the morning of 10 February Tropical Cyclone Pat hit the Southern Cook Islands, with Aitutaki Island being seriously hit.
At the height of the cyclone there were destructive wind gusts of up to 185 km/hr were recorded and ADRA New Zealand’s Cook Islands partner, the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Mission, moved quickly to establish contact with Cook Island Emergency Management personnel and started an initial assessment of the situation.
These assessments have shown that 80-90% of the homes in Aitutaki have been damaged of which about 30-40% of the homes have been completely destroyed to the point of having no walls, frames but only the foundation remaining. Many water tanks have been polluted by debris and sea spray from the strong winds or suffered heavy structural damage to render them unfit for use.
There is an urgent need for fresh water, food supplies and tarpaulins and these are currently being sourced by ADRA NZ.
The SDA Mission has been working closely with the Cook Islands Red Cross in the distribution of Aid with a NZ Air Force Hercules shipping supplies from Rarotonga to Aitutaki. The Tuesday 16th flight will be carrying the initial Aid supplies provided by ADRA and the SDA mission including the food, tarpaulins and water.
The cleanup of Aitutaki has already begun with many community groups and Church groups joining together for a concerted effort in completing this task.
Its been reported the SDA school was the worst affected school and work has already begun to clear debris and plans are being made for the rebuilding of the two heavily damaged school blocks.
SDA Education director Owen Ellis reports “The church members rallied around the school on Sunday for a major working bee to start clearing away the debris and relocate the furniture and surviving resources to the temporary accommodation” “Everyone is well and their efforts to get the school going as soon as possible is testament to their tenacity and to the support of the church members for our school considering that they all have their own homes to clean up and repair” continued Mr Ellis.
ADRA is seeking financial assistance for the following operations
1. Initial Aid Response – supply of food, water and tarpaulins to be provided immediately
2. The Rebuilding of the SDA School – funds provided will go towards the cost of materials for the rebuilding of two class room blocks
To contribute to the Aitutaki Cyclone Response please CLICK HERE and type Aitutaki Cyclone in the message box followed by the response operation you would like to contribute to. Call 0800 4 999111 to contribute via the phone