The Asian Development Bank will provide an additional $1 million grant to the Government of Tonga to fund critical and life-saving services following Tropical Cyclone Gita.

ADB’s Director General for the Pacific Department, Carmela Locsin says the cyclone directly affected almost eighty percent of Tonga’s population and destroyed around two thousand homes.

Locsin says the grant will go towards restoring critical services, like water and electricity, clearing and disposing of rubble and providing transitional shelter.

The funds are expected to be disbursed within days.

Meanwhile, Cyclone Gita was one of the most powerful cyclones recorded in Tonga’s history.