Thousands still struggling in Fiji

FIJI – Nearly 50,000 students in Fiji affected by Cyclone Winston still need replacement books and other learning material.

And thousands of households still need improved shelter two months after the storm.

The gaps are identified in the latest report from the UN’s humanitarian affairs agency OCHA (Office of the Commission for Humanitarian Affairs).

It says US$20 million more is needed for shelter alone or thousands of families will continue to live in makeshift dwellings and without critical training on how to build for another cyclone.

Three and a half million more plant cuttings are required to ensure food security after 80 per cent of new seedlings were washed away in the recent floods.

Three quarters of those needing psychosocial support have received it and of the quarter of a million people needing emergency water supplies, 6000 are still without.

Sanitation remains a huge concern with nearly 50,000 people still without access to hygienic toilet facilities.

OCHA says the situation will become more challenging now foreign military forces which have been helping Fiji have departed. - RNZI