Night of terror

Tuvalu

ON Tuesday night, February 6,

while the Tuvalu island com munity of Vaitupu was settling down to rest, hurricane-force winds swept across the island leaving destruc tion in its wake. All this within a week of being on alert for Cyclone Ofa which eventually swung away from Tuvalu to unleash its destructive power on Samoa and Niue.

According to the Island Executive Office on Vaitupu, winds ranging from 80-110 knots battered the island at around 9pm, terrifying the unprepared

villagers. The roof of the maneapa was lifted from its supports and crashed to the ground. More than half of the roof ing of the church was stripped off, with

water pouring in through the ceiling,

and many of the stained glass windows smashed. More than 100 houses were either severely damaged or razed to the ground. Virtually the whole village will have to be rebuilt.

An alarmed Tauaasa Taafaki, Secret ary to Government, was awakened by an urgent call from the Vaitupu Island Council during the night to report the damage. The next morning he formed a National Disaster Committee to co ordinate relief efforts. The Prime Minis ter, Bikenibeu Paeniu, was on trip to New Zealand for the Waitangi Treaty

celebrations.

Why wasn’t Tuvalu aware and pre pared? According to the Tuvalu meteorological station all weather fore casts came from Nadi; the weather fore casting centre on the western side of Fiji’s main island of Viti Levu. The weather forecasting centre at Nadi, was not aware of a cyclone in Tuvalu, said its Director Ram Krishna. He said no re ports of a cyclone was made by any of the weather stations in Tuvalu and satel lite pictures did not show a cyclone in Tuvalu. “If we had discovered a cyclone we would have issued a warning,” said Krishna, pointing out that part of the detection system involves local stations reporting to Nadi. “It could have been a severe squall,” Krishna suggested. □