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Fiji Relief Drive this April 9 at Garapan Fishing Base
The administration of Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is partnering with community groups to launch a Fiji Cyclone Relief Drive this April 9 at the Garapan Fishing Base from 7am to 4pm, Office of the Governor spokesman Ivan Blanco told Saipan Tribune yesterday.
Some 15 individuals met for planning event at the Office of Governor’s conference room yesterday, Blanco said, including those from the Governor’s Office, Lt. Gov. Victor Hocog’s office, and representatives from KKMP, Best Sunshine International, Ltd., Lion’s Club, and members of the Fijian community.
The event hopes to raise funds, clothing, food, and tools for those in Fiji, after Cyclone Winston devastated the islands late last month, claiming 46 lives and leaving 12 missing.
The cyclone was reported to have affected 350,000 people, or 40 percent of the total population and currently, 54,000 people remain sheltered in 960 evacuation centers.
Blanco said the CNMI has raised funds for Nepal, American Samoa, Chuuk, Yap, and other places after they were affected by disaster.
“And now we’re doing it for Fiji,” he told Saipan Tribune.
“We are grateful for the things that we have, all the help that was given to us after Typhoon Soudelor. And we know how Fiji feels after devastation.
“As a community we also want to help out. We also want to give because we have received,” he said.
Kyowa Shipping, via Saipan Shipping Company, has already generously donated a 40-foot shipping container with transportation via ocean freight to Suva, Fiji, Blanco said.
Blanco said they will be accepting cash donations, goods, household items like tarps, mattresses, clothes, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, canned food, water, and mosquito coils, among others.
The drive will feature live local entertainment, live radio broadcast on KKMP Radio, with all donations acknowledged on the radio.
Last Feb. 20, Cyclone Winston, a category five cyclone, packed sustained winds of 145 miles per hour with gusts up to 185 mph hot Fiji. It is said to be the second most powerful cyclone recorded in world history. Second only to Super Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Central Philippines in November 2013.
