Operation recovery starts, says Commissioner West
Operation recovery has kicked in for Commissioner Western, Manasa Tagicakibau, and his team. “All their efforts are now focused in delivering the 1000 family ration packs to Fijians living in the flood affected areas by Thursday,” Mr Tagicakibau said.
“We will direct these rations to the affected families, these are family packs at least to cater for them for a period of one week so they can get back on their own two feet.”
He said the 1000 packs were part of the first batch of rations directed primarily for Ba. Residents in Ba have described the flooding brought about by Tropical Cyclone Josie as the worst that has hit the town.
“The situation now in Ba, is that now they do not have electricity and water,” he said. “Floodwaters have damaged and destroyed houses in the area so now we are pushing out rations to these affected families.” He said clean-up operations were moving slowly because of the disruptions of water and electricity supply in the affected areas like Ba.
They will also be primarily allocating food pack rations to families living in the Ba peri-urban areas, rural communities and affected villages.
“Timing is very critical right now and that is why we are pushing out the rations this afternoon (yesterday),” he said.
“We will continue to deliver these rations tonight (last night) and tomorrow (today) because we are targeting to push out the rations to everyone by Thursday morning.” Once Ba was covered, Mr Tagicakibau said they would then make deliveries to other affected areas like Tavua and Rakiraki.