News

Qoma villagers thankful to see another day

February 24, 2016 9:20 pm

The terror and destructive winds of Tropical Cyclone Winston has left extensive damage in the village of Qoma Island in Tailevu.

This comes after forty houses were completely destroyed.

Situated on the northern side of Tailevu, Qoma Island was also battered by Cyclone Winston.

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Village Headman Sailasa Naisele says the experience of Cyclone Winston is something they will never forget.

‘’From the sixty houses in the village, forty were completely destroyed with nothing else left in the house, our village bridge was destroyed and we also lost two village boats which drifted out to sea’’

Winston has left devastating destruction and major loss of properties.

‘’I have come across cyclone Bebe and other cyclone and none of them is as strong and destructive as this one, on Saturday afternoon our village was okay but when we woke up the next morning everything was gone and many villagers just broke into tear’’.

In the middle of the village from where I stood, seven homes were located in this area, the strong winds of tropical Cyclone Winston destroyed all they have left.

For some of the families nothing is left but they were satisfied there were no loss of lives.

A few villagers shared their experiences, saying that they were lucky enough to escape death.

‘’This is one of the strongest cyclone that i have come across but i don’t care if my house is destroyed, i am happy for the fact that i am alive with my family’’.

‘’I was with my two children in the house when our roof flew off, so i hid them under the bed and i called for help in the village, for my children to be taken to another house’’.

‘’I have nothing left, this cyclone was so destructive, we thought that many of us would die as the strong winds were very terrifying’’.

With hundreds affected, Villagers are now picking up the pieces and finding ways and means to survive before relief assistance arrives.