Transcript
KORO VAKAUTA: The first impression landing at Fuamotu airport was the peripheral buildings at the airport were pretty much completely destroyed but thankfully the international airport came away unscathed apart for a bit of flood damage, but the domestic terminal which is on the peripheral of the main international terminal, was completely destroyed and is not being used at this time. And also just approaching from the sky, it was amazing to see what was once kind of lush agricultural ground out by the airport was now nothing but matchsticks from the air anyway. Just coconut trees is the only kind of plants surviving out there.
DON WISEMAN: You would have talked to some people by now. What are people telling you?
KV: They are struggling with the lack of power at the moment. When I say struggling they are not complaining about it. They are saying they have got water but the people we have spoken to around the Nuku'alofa area have some water. Power has been intermittently on and off, even like the hotels and shops they are still dealing with that difficulty but they are thankful for the water but power still needs to go back on and then I spoke with some linesman who say they will be working through the night in the hope to get power back to the main Nuku'alofa center anyway by tomorrow sometime but it will be a few days for rural areas yet to get restored power.
DW: Fuamotu airport is quite a long way from the center of Nuku'alofa and you go through a lot of countryside and there are quite a few trees normally. What impression did that leave you with?
KV: Well it was amazing to see that there were some really thick girth trunks that were completely snapped like twigs on the side of the road but then to contrast that there was a plantation of papaya which had been stripped of everything except the fruit at the top of the tree - so it was strange it was as if Gita had randomly picked plants and buildings to destroy. The main thing that we saw was that there were power lines just lying across sides of the roads and power lines torn down as well and of course billboards too.
DW: No blockages on the roads though?
KV: That is the one thing we noticed and there must have been a lot of work in the days straight after Gita because they have moved, well all the debris is on the side of the road but you can still see what was damaged and destroyed but the road itself is unblocked from Fuamotu to Nukualofa anyway.
DW: The damage is it incidental or is it across everything?
KV: Yeah incidental, that is a good way to put it really. It is almost random. You will see one village which looks relatively unscathed but the next village has a lot of flood and wind damage so hopefully I will be able to get out there with the aid distribution teams.
