The Ruins

Hurricane Aftermath

New Niue

Rises From

The Ruins

one time hurricanes at ic Island were so rare that the nd was considered to be vir lly out of the South Pacific ricane belt. Then, in 1959, ie was struck by a hurricane ich caused great damage, and months later she was struck another which completed the eking of the island. 7 TER the second hurricane, in 1960, only 134 homes remained ding on the island, and 4,000 of 4,700 population were homeless, s a temporary measure, an Aus an building overseer on the island *ned a humpy, which was an nious temporary shelter con ig of two sloping walls supported a flat roof. The simple frames ! of timber and they were roofed sided with salvaged galvanised from wrecked houses, any of these were built, but le had to be permanently housed a reconstruction scheme was sd. Building overseers were ght to the island, and concrete rs, joinery machinery, trucks, 1-Rovers and enormous supplies hiding materials came with them, iw, four years after the last cane, the hurricane housing ne is almost finished, is year, a total of 750 houses have been built with the help rants from the New Zealand rnment totalling £NZ196,000.

Standard Designs

e maximum loan for a Niuean ing a house is £175 and ier with a £5O “suspensory , which is really a free gift, it s the cost of the materials of a house—floor, walls, roof, spout vater tank and inside partitions.

“extras”, such as ceilings, , glass windows, etc., have to ipplied and paid for by the ; New Zealand Government, ?h its grant, pays the incidentals nning the scheme—the salaries j overseers from New Zealand, foreman’s wages and transport. :re are three basic standard is, known as Al, A 2 and A 3 5. They differ in floor area and

general design, and the houses are built on the family’s own land by a team made up of the family, rela tions and friends with general super vision by the housing overseers.

People were told at an early stage that the money was merely a loan and that everybody in the family should help to pay back the money.

It was suggested that there be a serious family discussion when a house was to be built.

It was suggested for instance that if the young children could collect the wood and do the cooking, the mother of the house would have time to weave baskets, hats, table mats, floor mats and other woven articles for which Niue is famous.

The sale of weaving would bring in extra money to help repayments.

If the husband had a job working

for wages, the older people in the family could help in the plantation, but in addition they should try to grow extra crops, such as kumeras and bananas, for sale.

In some ways it’s a pity that most of the older-type houses have disap peared—either collapsed by the two successive hurricanes or so weakened that they were torn down to make way for a new house.

These old houses, despite rusty, corrugated iron roofs, coral cement walls and sagging verandahs, were picturesque. Niue villages now look a little like suburbia in any city any where, with their standardised Al, A 2 and A 3 houses. Yet with only a few houses of the 750 to be com pleted, Niue’s people without doubt, are much more efficiently housed.