Fiji

The category five storm left four people dead and thousands homeless when it hit the country in December.

Speaking in Parliament, the Disaster Management Minister Inia Seruiratu said about 139,000 people and 31,000 households were directly affected by the super storm.

Seruiratu said more than 8000 homes were destroyed.

He said the education sector was also impacted with more than 90 schools damaged across the country.

The minister said the health sector had recorded extensive damage to 25 of its facilities in Macuata, Cakaudrove, Bua and Taveuni.

Mrs Sandy Ahluwalia could not talk for long when Islands Business tried calling her husband’s telephone a short while ago.

“We can’t talk, we’re being deported on 11am flight today,” she whispered before the call was terminated.

The couple is believed to be at the Nadi International Airport.

USP staff tell us immigration officers arrested the VC and his wife at their home at the USP Campus around 11pm last night and took them by car on the three-hour drive to Nadi airport.

Tropical Cyclone Bina formed to the northwest of the country and its centre is forecast to go between Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.

It is expected to remain a category 1 system.

TC Bina was named less than a day after category 2 system TC Ana unleashed her fury on Fiji.

One person drowned and five people are reported missing.

Among the missing are four fishermen and a three-year-old toddler who went with his grandfather to tie up their boat.

More than 7000 people are sheltering in evacuation centres after heavy rain and high seas caused flooding.

In a statement this afternoon, the National Disaster Management Office said a 49 year old man had drowned.

The NDMO also said there were five people missing including a three year boy from Lautoka who hasn't been seen since yesterday.

The other four were fishermen who had gone out earlier in the week as the storm developed, two from Cikobia, Vanua Levu and the others from near Suva.

The category two storm, packing gusts up to 140 kilometres an hour, made landfall on the main island of Viti Levu this morning and had been moving south-southwest towards Suva since.

The Fiji Meteorological Service's, Sakeasi Waibuta, said many parts of the country had already suffered from severe flooding with over 100 millimetres of rain overnight and the downpours continuing today.

The category 1 cyclone was located about 350km northwest of Nadi early this morning.

Its moving southeast at 20km/hr and is likely to make landfall over Fiji on Sunday.

The National Disaster Management Office in Fiji has warned the public to prepare for heavy rain, flooding and possible damaging winds.

A national curfew comes into effect this afternoon and will be lifted at 4am on Monday (local time).

The curfew in the western division is from 12pm today to 4am Monday.

Cogea, which sits at the junction of two rivers in Vanua Levu, was nearly wiped out by floodwaters on the night of 17 December, as Yasa tore a path directly over the village, leaving 32 families homeless.

Aminiasi Turaga, a resident of Cogea, said the night of the cyclone was the scariest he'd ever experienced. They had all gathered in the town's church, he said, which was strong enough to withstand the winds.

The Fijian health ministry said the two women, aged 49 and 58, arrived on flight NZ-492 on the December 24.

The ministry said they were asymptomatic and well when they arrived.

The pair tested positive for the coronavirus after undergoing final tests before they left the country's mandatory isolation facility in Nadi.

The two women have since been moved to an isolation ward at a hospital in Lautoka.

Photo Fiji MOH Caption: Lautoka Hospital     

Ambassador Khan was elected through a secret ballot process through which all 47 members of the Geneva-based human rights body cast their vote to appoint its president for 2021 – the Council’s 15th annual cycle.

A statement said Ambassador Khan, whose presidency takes immediate effect, joins the Ambassadors of the Bahamas, Sudan and Netherlands, who were elected vice-presidents of the Council in December, to serve on the Council Bureau for the current year.

The first case is a 35-year-old man who travelled from the United Kingdom and arrived in Fiji on flight NZ 952 from Auckland on 24 December.

The other two cases are a 25-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman who arrived in Nadi on flight GA 8250 from New Delhi on 21 December.

The fourth case is a 55-year-old man who travelled from Mali and arrived on 31 December on flight NZ952 from Auckland.