New Caledonia asking for emergency funding from France to help Wallis
Updated
The French government is being asked to declare a state of natural disaster in its pacific territory of Wallis and Futuna. The island territory was devastated by Tropical Cyclone Tomas, before it headed towards Fiji. Early assessments indicate at least 70 percent of the buildings on Wallis have been destroyed. Our reporter Helene Hofman is in the capital of New Caledonia, Noumea, from where the relief effort by the French military has been co-ordinated.
Presenter, Campbell Cooney
Helene Hofman, ABC Reporter
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HOFMAN: Well basically Campbell, the Minister for the Overseas and Funds has released that the result of its preliminary assessments and it has been quite difficult to get any information at moment, because the phone lines through Wallis and Futuna are still down at the moment. What we do know now is that they are estimating that about 70 per cent of the houses have been damaged and that is on Futuna which is at the heart of this Futuna has about 15,000 people that in Wallis and Futuna living on it. What we know also in Futuna is that the coastal road has been completely swept away. They have also lost about 80 per cent of their crops and livestock, so that is what is coming out of the Ministry for Overseas at the moment.
COONEY: What about financial contributions from France?
HOFMAN: Well, the reason the Minister for Overseas Marie-Luce Penchard has asked for the state of natural disaster to be declared is so they can free up funds. Obviously the Red Cross is in there and it's provided immediate emergency relief, but there is a lot more long term work that needs to be done, and in order for that to be carried through, they are going to need the money from France.
COONEY: What about the ships that were heading over there? Have they arrived? Do we know what the state of play is with those?
HOFMAN: Well actually, it's being coordinated by the French navy, but it is actually planes that they sent over. So the first team of 13 arrived earlier in the week. There is another team that left last night. The Red Cross in New Caledonia have prepared about six tonnes of supplies to send over. They have done their own assessment and they are particularly concerned about the fact they think about 1,000 people on Futuna don't have access to drinking water. They also estimate that there is only probably about enough food and water to last 48 hours, so they are concentrating on getting things like, water purification tablets and some emergency food supplies over there.
COONEY: You've got I understand a fair community of relations living in New Caledonia. How are they taking the situation on their home island?
HOFMAN: Yeah, there's an important connection between Wallis and Futuna and New Caledonia. It's very common for people from Wallis and Futuna to come and live in work in New Caledonia, so quite a significant population there.
I have been speaking to a few of them since the cyclone hit earlier this week and obviously a lot of them are very concerned, because electricity has now been restored, but of course they still cannot get through on phones, so very hard to get information and many of them just very concerned about family. Also rallying together, giving donations, toys anything they can get together and many of them already talking about heading over to see what they can do themselves.
COONEY: Is the situation on Wallis and Futuna making news in the general community in New Caledonia or is it being closely followed by the people there?
HOFMAN: It absolutely is. I guess for many people, there is a very close link between the two islands. They are probably as close as francophile countries can get in the region. Every night on the French Caledonia, sorry every night on the New Caledonia news here you will see what is happening in Wallis and Futuna. It is almost like it happened to family for many people.
COONEY: Helene, when we spoke to you last, you also mentioned that the cyclone, Cyclone Tomas had basically put a halt on cruise ships and all sorts of shipping around New Caledonia. Have things got back to normal now on that front?
HOFMAN: Pretty much, yeah things are slowly getting back to normal. We had a cruise ship arrive yesterday. The weather has been clearing up, but the weather service this morning were warning that there is a Yellow alert, a Yellow cyclone alert, which means that we still need some vigilance. There are a few cyclones and depressions in the area that could materialise into something. If not over the weekend, next week. So not completely out of the red yet.
