Niuatoputapu
From Prime Minister's Office, Nuku'alofa, Monday 2 November 2009;The Prime
Minister, Dr. the Hon Feleti Vaka'uta Sevele, spent the weekend in Niuatoputapu, in
order to review the status of the emergency relief work on the island since it was
declared nationally as a disaster zone on 30 October. He was accompanied to the
island last Saturday (31 Oct) morning by the Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon
Viliami Ta'u Tangi, the Hon Minister for Lands, Lord Tuita, the Australian High
Commissioner, H.E. Dr. Bruce Hunt and the NZ High Commissioner, H.E. Christine
Bogle.
centre and hospital, the Pasivulangi wharf at Falehau, the airport runway and terminal,
and the main roads. He also visited all the island's three villages of Hihifo, Vaipoa and
Falehau and some of the temporary camps that the villagers' had established in the
hills.
on Sunday evening with the people of the island. It was attended by all the Church
Leaders, District Officer, Town Officers, Government Representative and employees
on the island as well as members of the emergency relief teams that were deployed
immediately to the island under the leadership of Lord Ma'afu, the Hon Minister for
Environment. Altogether there were 148 participants at this meeting.
of homes in all three villages to higher ground. Government is already preparing to
relocate to higher ground the government centre and residences, the hospital, the
headquarters of Tonga Communications Corporation, and the Tonga Development
Bank. The relocation of family homes is a more difficult call to make because, as it
became evident in the meeting, people residing in the homes that were destroyed were
not necessarily the legal owners of the homes or of the town allotments on which they
were located, but were "housekeeping" for relatives who were either in Tongatapu or
overseas. Not only that, people were generally reluctant to vacate their ancestral
homes on which numerous generations have lived. The meeting agreed that public
discussion on the proposal will continue.
including the immediate planting of emergency crops such sweet corn, kumala and
potatoes, as well as the replanting of cash crops such as the pandanus trees on which
the women depend for the unique handicrafts for which Niuatoputapu is renown. Also
discussed were the necessary precautions to take as the annual tropical cyclone season
