Our Fiji group at Pako Festa

Yesterday was the annual Pako Festa, a huge ethnic festival in Geelong, Australia and for many years our Fiji Geelong Friendship Club has contributed by participating in the march, performing dance and singing, running a stall, displaying crafts etc. But we intended to have a rest this year. However because of the Hurricane Winston last weekend some members of our Fiji group met on Wednesday and decided we needed a presence at the festival, found costumes, made a banner, designed a new logo, printed posters, made 500 flyers,  got in touch with the Pako leaders to get permission to fund-raise with tins, and we were accepted. On Saturday one community radio station broadcast from Pako Festa and George was interviewed so that gave more publicity to our fund-raising.  We are also collecting labelled boxes to send to a group in Melbourne who are preparing two containers for Fiji. So here are some photos of the event where about 100,000 people attended.  We raised a few thousand dollars towards our project to help Fiji.  Isa, our former President, Rev Peceli Ratawa is no longer with us as he had energised the group for over twenty years in participation at Pako. The next generation have taken over this reponsibility now.

Fundraising for Fiji in Geelong

in the Geelong Advertiser Saturday 27th February:

Fijian couple George and Letila Ratawa call on Geelong to support Pacific relief efforts

February 27, 2016 12:00am

ALEX SINNOTTGeelong Advertiser

George and Wendy Ratawa have family connections to Fiji and have joined forces with the Fiji Geelong Friendship group to colelct donations. Picture: Mike Dugdale

IMAGES of destruction across an island paradise have hit home for Newcomb’s George and Letila Ratawa.

The Geelong couple migrated from Fiji more than five years ago and have been horrified by television bulletins and conversations with relatives relaying the impact of Cyclone Winston.

The category-five cyclone belted the island nation last weekend, leaving more than 40 dead and forcing 8000 people to evacaution centres.

The damage to Yacata Island after the most powerful cyclone in Fiji's history battered the Pacific island nation. Picture: AFP Photo / New Zealand Defence Force

Mrs Ratawa comes from the island of Yacata and her family had two houses in the village, both of which were destroyed.

The Fiji Geelong Friendship Club is appealing for donations and will take its appeal to the streets during Pako Fest on Saturday.

“Cyclone Winston is the worst cyclone to appear in the Southern Hemisphere on record,” Mr Ratawa said. “A lot of Fijian homes are prepared for cyclones, even big cyclones, but nothing like this latest one. It was absolutely massive.

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“There’s huge devastation and my wife’s community was badly hit. Some of the other guys here (in the club) are from communities that have been completely wiped out.”

Corio MP Richard Marles has met with Mr Ratawa and said Australia needed to support its island neighbour in its hour of need.

“There’s more than 40 people dead and the death toll continues to climb,” he said. “Fiji is a strong nation but Cyclone Winston is the biggest cyclone to ever hit on record, so these are very testing times for Fiji and our generosity is much needed at this time.”

A village is devastated by Cyclone Winston in the Northern Tailevu district, Fiji. Picture: AAP Image/Fijian Government

The wish list for recovery from hurricane

Help from Australia

The Australian government have allocated $5 million to help Fiji - sending planes and helicopters quickly, and many aid organisations have also started helping with Shelter Boxes, etc.  Tragedy can bring out a lot of human kindness towards neighbours.   (story from Fiji Village)
3 more Australian Defence Force aircraft to arrive with relief supplies

By Vijay Narayan

Wednesday 24/02/2016

(Photo: Fiji Connect Lounge)

Three more Australian Defence Force aircraft will arrive at Nausori International Airport today, carrying relief supplies.

An MRH‑90 helicopter and Australian Defence Force personnel will also arrive later today as part of the Australian Government=s assistance to Fiji in the wake of Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston.

The Australian government has provided 5 million Australian dollars in aid to assist in our efforts to help the people severely affected by Cyclone Winston.

A prayer from Fiji

 A prayer from Fiji

Where can we run to God?  Why is nature so vicious, so overwhelming to our vulnerable people, our wooden or tin houses, our neatly set out villages?  Yet you say that you God are alongside us but it’s just not fair.  One village intact, ours demolished by the hurricane. You created us, you created the earth, so why is there so much destruction? Yesterday our church leaders told us to pray in our own homes as worship in the local churches  was cancelled. God, help us to understand and to pick up the pieces and start again. In Jesus name. Amen.

A tweet from a cupboard

Woman live tweets Cyclone Winston destroying her home in Fiji

9:51 AM Sunday Feb 21, 2016

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Cayla Tikaram tweeted this photo of her home the morning after Cyclone Winston hit. Photo / Twitter, @CaylaTikaram

As Cyclone Winston made landfall, Cayla Tikaram hid with her family in a cupboard and a mattress, praying and crying as the storm ripped the roof off her house, flooded it, crushed the walls and ripped the shutters off the windows. Debris flew through the air around them.

And as the storm bore down, the pastry chef at a resort in Rakiraki, in northern Viti Levu, tweeted throughout.

"The house is leaking and everyone's crying. Planning where to hide when the entire roof comes off."

The house is leaking and everyone's crying. Planning where to hide when the entire roof comes off

— Cayla (@CaylaTikaram) February 20, 2016

"What do we doooooo. This is hands down the scariest point of my life."

Once the eye of Cyclone Winston had passed, the family emerged from their hiding spot and started to assess the extent of the damage.

"Can't even begin to comprehend how we survived. Every room of the house is shredded to bits," Ms Tikaram tweeted.

Everyone's safe & in the cupboard with a mattress against us. No roof, barely any house, but alive so far ???? Thank God. #TCWinston

— Cayla (@CaylaTikaram) February 20, 2016

"The entire roof has blown off and walls crushed in. No insurance either fml. 100% one of those surreal 'it'll never happen to me' moments".

She went to go find her neighbours but their house was in matchsticks and there was no one.

Daylight #TCWinston pic.twitter.com/cXuceQt9eT

— Cayla (@CaylaTikaram) February 20, 2016

On Facebook, Ms Tikaram said the cyclone was one of the most terrifying things she'd ever seen.

"We're going to be rebuilding and cleaning up a while. So, so eternally grateful we're all okay. Praying all my family and friends are too."

Went to go try find my neighbours but their house is wrecked and no ones home. #TCWinston pic.twitter.com/O6EntK7s2t

— Cayla (@CaylaTikaram) February 20, 2016

- NZ Herald

Hiding from the hurricane

Islands Business

4 hrs · Suva, Fiji · 

THE amazing role women played at the height of Cyclone Winston is beginning to emerge as the Category 5 system heads away from Fiji.
In Levuka a teacher huddled under a bed protecting her children as wind ripped the roof from their home.
Delana Primary School teacher Qiokata said she heard the roof begin to rip around 9pm.
"So I woke all my children and rushed into the bedroom," she told Losana Derenalagi of fem'LINK Radio.
"The (four) children were all crying. It took moments for the roof to be ripped off and we cramped together under the bed. My children were shaking in fear but we thank God we are today able to see a new day."
Her husband is away in Australia.
In Savusavu, Leanne Hunter rode out the cyclone with her children in the most secure part of their house at shutters were blown off the windows.
At the height of the super storm,Hunter posted: "Absolutely frightening. In wardrobe now with kids. Hope this is the worst. Wind changing direction to NW."
Jean Tikaram on the Ra coast was forced into a cupboard with her children as TC Winston ripped the roof of their house.
The home eventually collapsed around them.
At Malamala, Nadi, Yasmin Khan watched the women's weather watch updates which she said helped in preparation for "what was one of the scariest hurricanes I have comes across".
She told fem'LINK Radio: "My son lives alone in Wailoaloa and lost the roof to the house. He wanted to run away but I convinced him to get inside the cupboard which is where he stayed all night."

Pay cheques for the suit men and women

from Fiji Sun October 2014  (Nice to know what they pay themselves while the ordinary people put up with their houses damaged by wind and rain, their crops smashed, and nature wrecks what they have worked hard for.)

How They Tip The Pay Scale

President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau during the Opening of Parliament.

October 09

01:352014

Print This ArticleShare it With Friends

 by Naisa Koroi, SUVA

Prime Minister $328,750

– Free furnished residence with all services and staff

– Official car with driver

– At official residence – completely free fixed telephone and official mobile phone

– Internet connection at residence

– FNPF contribution

– 4 weeks leave per annum, which must be compensated if not used

– Free accommodation and meals for all local travel

– Overseas travel – first class travel and may be accompanied by spouse

– Overseas travelling allowance – UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50 per cent together with $300 per day incidental allowance

– All medical costs to be reimbursed for local or overseas treatment as required

Minister for Finance $235,000

– Official car with driver

– Official mobile phone

– Internet connection at residence

– FNPF contribution

– 4 weeks leave per annum, which must be compensated if not used

– Free accommodation and meals for all official local travel

– Overseas travel – business class travel for official meetings

– Overseas travelling allowance – UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50 per cent together with $250 per day incidental allowance

Speaker Of The House $150,000

– Official car with driver

– Official mobile phone

– Internet connection at residence

– FNPF contribution

– 4 weeks leave per annum, which must be compensated if not used

– Free accommodation and meals for all official local travel

– Overseas travel – business class travel for official meetings

– Overseas travelling allowance – UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50 per cent together with $150 per day incidental allowance

LEADER OF OPPOSITION $120,000

– Official car with driver

– Official mobile phone

– Internet connection at residence

– FNPF contribution

– 4 weeks leave per annum, which must be compensated if not used

– Free accommodation and meals for all official local travel

– Overseas travel – business class travel for official meetings

– Overseas travelling allowance – UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50 per cent together with $150 per day incidental allowance

President non taxable $130,000

– Free furnished residence with all services and staff

– Official car with driver

– At official residence – completely free fixed telephone and official mobile phone

– Internet connection at residence

– FNPF contribution

– 4 weeks leave per annum, which must be compensated if not used

– Free accommodation and meals for all local travel

– Overseas travel – first class travel and may be accompanied by spouse

– Overseas travelling allowance – UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50 per cent together with $300 per day incidental allowance

– All medical costs to be reimbursed for local or overseas treatment as required

Ministers for: Health, Education, Infrastructure, Transpor $200,000

Other Ministers: $185,000

CABINET MINISTERS: BENEFITS

Assistant Ministers: $90,000

– Official car with driver

– Official mobile phone

– Internet connection at residence

– FNPF contribution

– 4 weeks leave per annum, which must be compensated if not used

– Free accommodation and meals for all official local travel

– Business class travel for official meetings

– Overseas travelling allowance – UNDP subsistence allowance plus 50 per cent together with $250 per day incidental allowance

Other MPs: $50,000

Flattened cane and house

Photos here show what happened to a field of sugar cane, and also to a house in Ba. Maybe hotels kept standing because they are built to withstand very strong winds, but ordinary houses may not be so lucky. First the roof goes, then the structure.  One photo is of the famous ivi tree, perhaps 120 year old that is in the heart of Suva. Another photo shows the firemen helping to clean up, and another is a typical road blocked by a tree.

About the hurricane

from  https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/tropical-cyclone-winston-fiji-strongest-landfall

Tropical Cyclone Winston raked across Fiji Saturday with Category 5 winds, the strongest landfalling tropical cyclone on record in the South Pacific archipelago.

According to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC), Winston made landfall along the north coast of Fiji's largest, most populous island, Viti Levu, Saturday evening, local time (Fiji is 17 hours ahead of U.S. Eastern standard time), packing estimated maximum sustained winds of 180 mph. 

Composite radar loop of Tropical Cyclone Winston's eye tracking over the north coast of Viti Levu, Fiji, on February 20, 2016.  (Fiji Meteorological Service)

Winston not only was the first Category 5 tropical cyclone of record to hit Fiji, but earlier Saturday afternoon, became the strongest tropical cyclone of record in the Southern Hemisphere by maximum winds, peaking with 185 mph winds estimated by the JTWC, according to Colorado State University tropical scientist, Dr. Phil Klotzbach.

Tropical Cyclone Winston's current location

The tropical cyclone's eye is now pulling away from Viti Levu, and conditions will slowly improve as Winston pulls westward out to sea, then bends to the south-southeast by Sunday and Monday, posing no further threat to other land areas.

(INTERACTIVE: Tropical Cyclone Winston Forecast Path)

Nabouwalu, on Fiji's second largest island of Vanua Levu, clocked a peak wind gust of 121 mph in the northern eyewall of Winston Saturday evening, before the weather sensor stopped reporting. They had also picked up 124 millimeters (roughly 4.88 inches) of rain from Winston through 6 p.m. local time Saturday.

Winds at Nadi International Airport on the west coast of Viti Levu gusted to 82 mph Saturday night as the southern eyewall of Winston moved in.

Earlier Saturday morning, as Winston's eyewall raked the eastern islands of Fiji, a 106 mph 10-minute sustained wind was clocked on Vanua Balavu Island before the station stopped reporting.

(MORE: Latest Impacts in Fiji, Tonga)

Dating to 1979, only four other tropical cyclones of Category 4 intensity had tracked within 100 miles of Fiji's largest island, according to NOAA's historical hurricane tracks database. The last to do so with Tropical Cyclone Evan in mid-December 2012. 

The Weather Channel hurricane specialist, Michael Lowry, says there had been only 10 other Category 5 tropical cyclones in the South Pacific east of Australia since 1970. 

Tracks of all Category 5 tropical cyclones in the southwest Pacific Ocean since 1970.  (Michael Lowry, The Weather Channel)

It's also fairly rare for any tropical cyclone to affect Fiji.

According to NOAA's Historical Hurricane Tracks database, only 12 tropical cyclones of at least Category 1 equivalent intensity have tracked within 100 miles of Fiji's capital and largest city, Suva, since 1972.

So far this century, an average of 5-6 tropical cyclones of at least tropical storm intensity have formed each year in the Southwest Pacific basin, much fewer than in the Atlantic, eastern Pacific, or western Pacific basins.

This is the second year in a row a Category 5 storm has made landfall in the South Pacific.

In March 2015, Tropical Cyclone Pam raked through Vanuatu with winds of 165 mph.

The Fiji Meteorological Service estimated Winston's central pressure around 915 millibars during its Viti Levu landfall Saturday. While Pam's estimated winds were less, the FMS estimated Pam's central pressure dropped to 896 millibars on March 14, 2015.

The most intense Southern Pacific tropical cyclone by estimated central pressure was from Tropical Cyclone Zoe on December 28, 2002, dipping to 890 millibars, according to the FMS.

Tonga Double Whammy

It's not often that a tropical system makes a U-turn and hits an area twice, but that's exactly what happened with this storm.

Path history and intensity of Tropical Cyclone Winston in February 2016.  (Weather Underground)

The first strike on Tonga from Winston left damage behind. According to Matangi Tonga Online, trees and power lines were brought down and homes were damaged in Vava'u, but officials said they haven't confirmed any injuries from the storm's first pass. Hundreds of residents went into shelters during the storm, and hurricane-force wind gusts were reported on the island early Tuesday morning, Matangi Tonga Online also said.

“We are thankful there has been no report of lives lost or injuries in all of the islands,” Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni told Parliament.

Fortunately, Winston is forecast to make another sharp turn in the week ahead, but the cyclone should stay far enough west to spare Tonga for a third impact.

(INTERACTIVE: Tropical Cyclone Winston Forecast Path)

El Niño Influence?

It's the question on the minds of so many. 

In El Niño years, South Pacific tropical cyclone activity tends to be greater toward the International Date Line, rather than in the Coral Sea near Australia.

(MORE: Strong El Niño Could Transition into La Niña)

While sea-surface temperatures are not the "end-all-be-all" for tropical cyclones, warmer-than-average waters in the South Pacific no doubt helped fuel Winston.