Flood Disaster Relief Program

On Sunday the 8th of April all GVI Volunteers and Staff returned to the mainland to take part in disaster relief efforts following the recent flooding disaster in the western district of Viti Levu. A temporary base is currently set up in Martintar near Nadi Town and we have been deploying volunteers to the field with the Red Cross for the past week to perform disaster damage assessments and to distribute aid packs. GVIs partnership with the Red Cross has enabled us to provide much needed human resources in response to what has been Fiji's most widespread and devastating flood. The Yasawa Trust Foundation were hugely supportive and provided both the Red Cross and GVI with transport solutions throughout the program here on the mainland.

Over the past 5 days our volunteers have visited dozens of different areas and assessed the needs of hundreds of families. Dr Mohammed Yunush, the president of Nadi Red Cross asked GVI directors to accept his sincere appreciation for the ongoing support and invited resident staff to join the Red Cross as permanent members. Two computers and two volunteers have been in the head office all this week assisting with the extensive admin required to request aid packs and monitor distribution. Red Cross staff also mentioned how GVI volunteers had made valuable improvements to the way this administration is carried out.

Our blue t-shirts branded with bold red crosses were seen all over Nadi this week from the rural southern settlements to the outer urban areas. SUV's, trucks, vans, and buses unloaded our teams at various drop points in a military fashion. Houses were surveyed, villagers interviewed, and data collected. In other areas hundreds of boxes were loaded and unloaded. Water sanitation packs from Unicef, hygiene packs from AusAid, clothing, cookware, tarpaulins - were hand distributed to each assessed family.

The damage to personal property and homes has been extensive. The experience of visiting these areas and assessing the damage has been very moving for all involved as we have seen first hand the losses of individuals. In a country where people have very little and live in homes that are extremely vulnerable, in an area still recovering from the January floods, this most recent flood has taken a serious toll on the people of the western district. Please help us fund-raise to ensure that those affected by this disaster have the support they need to recover. Please follow this link for further information on how to give to this cause: http://www.gvi.org/disaster-recovery-fiji

Flood Disaster Relief Program