PRESS RELEASE
FRIEND has reached out to 300 families to provide temporary shelter to those whose homes were destroyed in the Tropical Cyclone Evan that affected the Western Division on 17th December, 2013.
Director Sashi Kiran says of these 156 homes were totally destroyed while the rest were homes that had their full roofs blown off.
“Despite losing our office roof we had to mobilize quickly to ensure that families completely affected had a roof to keep their family dry in the continuing rains. We are grateful that AUSAID accepted our request for $215,000 which we used to purchase the roofing irons and nails.”
The communities from Tavua to Sigatoka were assessed by FRIEND teams.
“FRIEND staff have been working around the clock, visiting communities, doing on site assessments and distributing roofing material to those in need.” Those whose homes were totally destroyed were provided with 18 sheets of roofing iron for roof and walls and those with total roof loss were provided with 6 sheets to cover a room to keep the family dry until they are assisted with more permanent assistance from other agencies.
The housing rehabilitation has been concluded now that most urgent needs have been met.