Bua CSO Community Liaison, Ratu Radovibua Tagivetaua [Photo: Supplied]

Traditional resilience systems helped accelerate recovery efforts in communities in Bua after the successive tropical cyclones of Yasa and Ana.

Speaking at the Pacific Resilience Meeting plenary on ‘The Shift to locally –led resilience, Bua CSO Community Liaison, Ratu Radovibua Tagivetaua says this approach helped build unity and mobilized youth in villages to work together to rebuild food security and repair damaged infrastructure in particular water supply and bridges.

Tagivetaua says the Northern Division suffered a huge set back when the successive cyclones hit only weeks apart but the traditional resilience system held the communities together.

He says food shortages meant sharing and communal meals were normal with designated cooks preparing meals for villagers – adding they didn’t spend a lot of time waiting for help from government.

“It was heart-breaking and gut wrenching as we had to start all over again and if it weren’t for our own traditional resilience systems, we would have given up.”

Tagivetaua adds, if one is to visit the villages now, you wouldn’t be able to tell that two cyclones devastated their homes and lives within weeks of each other earlier this year.

This – he says highlights the resilient capacities within our Vanua.