Pacific / Tonga

Tonga hotel operator says Gita victims still desperate

13:56 pm on 21 February 2018

Nine days on from Cyclone Gita a hotel operator in Tonga says there is still more help needed for families whose homes were wrecked by the storm.

One of many homes destroyed by Cyclone Gita in Tonga Photo: Ke Leka

Katie Silcock, who is the general manager of the Scenic Hotel, which is near the country's international airport on Tongatapu, said many people in a village near the hotel were in desperate straits.

She said she, and the hotel's assistant manager, visited nearby Fua'amotu village on Tuesday and found people still short of shelter, food and water.

Ms Silcock said she was also concerned at the unsanitary conditions and the risk of dengue.

"These are poor people already and they didn't have a lot to start with and basically the cyclone has taken what little they did have, which is their small fales, clothing and just obliterated it all basically. So yeah just seeing the children hungry. I mean we took food and they were ravenous so that tells us they are just not getting what they need."