Drumming up donations
Families queue to send supplies to disaster-hit Tonga
People yesterday lined up for hours to donate food and emergency supplies at Auckland’s Mt Smart Stadium to send to Tonga.
Priority was given to people with family in Tonga, and each was allocated a 200-litre drum to send.
The Aotearoa Tonga Relief Committee coordinated the effort.
Eight shipping containers were donated by Matson South Pacific Shipping and hundreds of people lined up on Friday and yesterday to send supplies to the island kingdom. Items sought were non-perishable foods such as rice and canned meat, as well as water, cooking utensils, batteries and torches.
Mepa Vuni waited for more than two hours and said many people had taken the day off work.
“I haven’t spoken to my mum since the eruption on Saturday. We are all doing this for the time being. We have been queuing here for more than two hours. People have been queuing since 7 o’clock,” she said.
Committee secretary Pakilau Manase Lua said the Tongan government would prioritise distributing goods to the worst affected islands like Mango, Atatā , Nomuka, Fonoifua.
He said the relief effort gave many Tongan families in New Zealand a chance to turn worry into action while they wait to reconnect with loved ones.
Hamilton City Council also gave $10,000 to the Tonga Community Trust which is co-ordinating the efforts on behalf of the city. The funds
will help cover shipping and freight costs for donated goods leaving Hamilton and the wider Waikato region.
Mayor Paula Southgate said people can also help via authorised Givealittle funding sites or donating food and other non-perishable goods.
New Zealand Defence Force Commander of Joint Forces Rear Admiral Jim Gilmour said Friday there were fears for food security, with reports ash was killing crops.
Ash and seawater have also contaminated water supplies.
New Zealand and Australian defence forces arrived in Nuku’alofa on Wednesday. The HMNZS Wellington, which is carrying a helicopter, technical gear and teams, and the HMNZS Aotearoa, which is carrying bulk water supplies, arrived on Friday.
“Water is among the highest priorities for Tonga, and the Aotearoa can carry 250,000 litres, and produce 70,000 litres per day through a desalination plant.”
Gilmour said staff did not need to set foot on Tonga at all, in an effort to avoid spreading Covid-19 to the coronavirus-free country.