Fiji

FIJI Post-Disaster Needs Assessment
Fiji’s Eastern Division was the first to be struck, with Koro, Ovalau and Taveuni Islands sustaining severe damage. The
cyclone swept across Fiji’s islands, reaching its peak strength shortly before making landfall on the country’s largest island,
Viti Levu, which has a population of 600,000. Maximum average wind speeds reached 233km/hour and wind gusts peaked
at around 306km/hour, making Winston one of the most powerful cyclones ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. 13
Many islands were struck by storm surges, including Koro Island and the southern coast of Fiji’s second-largest island,
Vanua Levu, which occurred almost 200m inland.
Legend
Winston Position
Winston Track
Hurricane
Storm
Gale
Figure 7: TC Winston Track across Fiji (East to West)
Source: Preliminary Fiji Met briefing.
Following TC Winston’s passage from Fiji, widespread damage and destruction was reported, and approximately 540,400
people were impacted by the cyclone or approximately 62 percent of the population. 14 The storm brought down the power
and communications systems linking the islands, with approximately 80 percent of the nation’s population losing power,
including the entire island of Vanua Levu. This hampered initial efforts to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the full
scale of the disaster’s impacts.
Forty-four fatalities were subsequently confirmed, entire communities were destroyed and approximately 40,000 people
required immediate assistance following the cyclone. 15 30,369 houses, 495 schools, and 88 health clinics and medical
facilities were damaged or destroyed, and crops were destroyed on a large scale, compromising the livelihoods of almost
60 percent of Fiji’s population.
1.4 Response from the Government and
Development Partners
A state of natural disaster was declared by the Government of Fiji for the Central, Western, Eastern and Northern Divisions
on February 20, 2016. Following the event, the government declared a state of emergency, and has been leading response
efforts, which are being coordinated by nine national humanitarian clusters 16 led by government ministries. Humanitarian
partners, international and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foreign governments, donors and civil
society are also supporting the government-led response. The government has implemented a range of social protection
programmes to support households, including the provision of additional funds to households via the Poverty Benefit
Scheme, the Food Voucher Programme and the Help for Homes initiative, which will provide affected households with
vouchers for housing rehabilitation and reconstruction.
13
These preliminary figures are from the Fiji Meteorological Service.
14
Population and Labour Force Estimates 2014.
15
Fiji: Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston Situation Report No. 11 (as of 3 March 2016) (PDF) (Situation Report). ReliefWeb. United Nations
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Retrieved 3 March 2016.
16
The national humanitarian clusters are: Communications; Education; Food Security and Livelihoods; Health and Nutrition; Logistics;
Public Works and Utilities; Shelter; Safety and Protection; and WASH.
20 Tropical Cyclone Winston, February 20, 2016