Niue hit, too

Niue received the brunt of the same hurricane which hit Western Samoa in early Feb ruary.

Banana crops, breadfruit and “maniota” were all completely destroyed, with kumara the only cash crop likely to be normal this year. Officials estimated it would take 12 to 15 months for the production of bananas to recommence, six years for breadfruit to recover and six months for ‘‘maniota”.

Old government buildings, particularly village schools, old people’s units, several water catchments and electric power installations were all damaged