UN Resident Coordinator Sanaka Samarasinha.

The United Nations in the Pacific, through its 26 agencies, is helping the Fijian Government reach out to communities severely affected by TC Yasa.

The UN is covering everything from providing temporary classrooms to helping heal the trauma of victims.

UN Resident Coordinator Sanaka Samarasinha says one priority is to ensure school tents are set up as classrooms to meet the children’s educational needs.

“We need to make sure that the kids are able to come back to school in a few weeks when school starts. Now not all schools will be running at a 100 percent. There will be some adjustments made. UNICEF provides temporary learning spaces. These are large tents that can be used temporarily as classrooms. Some of the them are still up in Kadavu after TC Harold but we really need to move more quickly to make sure that it’s not just the tents or the repair or infrastructure but the environment is healthy for kids to move back.”

However, health still remains a concern in various affected areas.

“We remain worried about the possibility of health impacts. We know after such a disaster, we have problems like dengue, leptospirosis and typhoid and in the north, up there is a hotspot anyway even without a disaster so this is something the WHO, which is part of the UN, is looking at to make sure we prevent such a thing from happening.”

The UN is ensuring that the assistance given to those affected is well coordinated while students and parents are also being counselled by a UN team of health officials.