A home built by Habitat for Humanity in Samoa Photo: Supplied
The housing charity Habitat for Humanity is aiming to rebuild and repair up to 500 homes in Tonga after the widespread detruction from Cyclone Gita in February.
CEO Claire Szabo said a pilot project of eight homes in Tonga built by Habitat for Humanity came through the cyclone well with only minor cosmetic damage.
Ms Szabo claimed that the resilience of those homes and the agency's progress in repairing and constructing 500 homes in both Samoa and New Zealand as evidence of the programme's success.
According to her, teaching the families building and construction skills was a vital component in the rebuild.
"The locals are very involved. We have engineers and builders that are involved in supervision both here in New Zealand and up in Tonga. So there's a whole crew of people to get involved to make our model happen."
Claire Szabo said Habitiat for Humanity was hoping to fund raise US$700,000 for the Tonga project and would start next month with repairs on an initial 300 damaged homes.
Listen to Dateline interview with Claire Szabo