'Need to move more quickly': UNDP offers humanitarian aid to kids in cyclone-hit Fiji

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is helping Fiji reach out to communities severely affected by cyclone Yasa in order to ensure schools are ready to reopen in January 2021. The tropical cyclone, which hit the archipelago earlier this month, has obliterated over 1,500 homes and severely damaged about 85 schools till now. Following the damage, the UN agency has now stepped in to provide “temporary classrooms”, “heal traumas” of the victims amongst other things.

Read: Heavy Rains, Strong Winds As Cyclone Nears Fiji

“We need to make sure that the kids are able to come back to school in a few weeks when school starts. We really need to move more quickly to make sure that it is not just the tents or the repair or infrastructure but the environment is healthy for kids to move back,” Sanaka Samarasnha, UN resident Coordinator for Fiji said.

Read: Inter-Ministerial Central Team To Visit Tamil Nadu To Assess Damage Caused By Cyclone Burevi

He asserted that the UN agency remains worried about the possibility of health impacts from the disaster. “We have problems like dengue, leptospirosis and typhoid and in the north, up there is a hotspot anyway even without a disaster so this is something the World Health Organization (WHO), which is part of the UN, is looking at to make sure we prevent such a thing from happening," he ascertained. 

Four people killed

Since it hit Fiji, the robust cyclone has killed four people. Talking about the cyclone, Vasiti Soko, the director of the National Disaster Management Office, told Associated Press that the Yasa with wind gusts of up to 345 kilometres (214 miles) per hour. "We will continue to assess the scale of damage in the coming days. But we are likely looking at hundreds of millions of dollars," she was quoted as saying by AP. 

As per Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), the agriculture sector in the northern part of the nation has also been severely affected by the cyclone and the Fijian government believed there was a need for a quick recovery plan to ensure the nutrition needs for people in the affected areas.

Read: Fiji Cyclone Kills At Least 2, Destroys Dozens Of Homes

Read: Heavy Rains, Strong Winds As Cyclone Nears Fiji