The Republic of Fiji Military Forces has enough manpower on the ground to assist victims and areas affected by Tropical Cyclone Winston.

3FIR Company Commander Lt. Colonel Ben Naliva says there are more than one hundred officers that have been deployed to the field.

He says there are also three companies with more than three hundred officers in Lautoka, Labasa and Nadi assisting the Divisional commissioners as initial assessment teams.

Lt. Col Naliva says another company is also on standby to prepare to be deployed to assist those affected in the western and the Northern division.

‘’We didn’t wait for the cyclone to recede we were reacting to calls that came in during the cyclone. There was a family from Namena that requested for our assistance when a tree fell on their house. We sent in half platoon into hospital during the height of the cyclone because they had asked for assistance to move patients from one location to another and straight after the cyclone we didn’t wait for someone to tell us what to do we just went out and started clearing the roads. Our concern was keeping the Suva-Nausori corridor open and we started off with the main route and also cleared up the Suva-Colo-i-Suva-Nausori corridor’’.

Lt. Col Naliva says they’re also ready to take on any tasks that will be assigned to them from their Headquarters Land force Commander.