Pacific Island nations impacted by Cyclone Harold are facing the double challenge of mobilising for recovery while maintaining efforts to halt the spread of the coronavirus…
On Tuesday my eldest brother Epeli, who lives in Kadavu, called to check in with my mother in Suva. He was in high spirits, and assured her that he had made all the necessary preparations and would be sheltering near an evacuation centre with two of my uncles. We knew from weather reports that the cyclone would likely trek near Kadavu but we did what many families would do – we hoped for the best.
Following the devastation of Tropical Cyclone Harold across Fiji and other Pacific nations, overlapping with the COVID-19 response, I wrote an article for Climate Tracker on the double threat of cyclones and the pandemic in the region.
