SYDNEY — Government officials declared a state of natural disaster inFijiafter a cyclone tore through the archipelago on Saturday, destroying villages and leaving five dead, Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said on Sunday.

Mr. Bainimarama described Cyclone Winston, a Category 5 cyclone with winds up to 143 miles per hour and gusts up to 202 miles per hour, as the most powerful such storm in the country’s recorded history.

“The damage has been widespread,” he said in a statement. “Many are without power and full access to water and are cut off from communication.”

Aid workers said roofs had been blown off houses, power lines were down, roads were blocked by trees and some villages had been flooded by heavy rain.

At a hospital in the western district, patients were evacuated after a ward lost part of its roof, and at a hospital in the central district, an intensive care ward, operating room and maternity ward were flooded, Fiji’s national emergency operation center said on Sunday.

An elderly man died on Koro, an island to the east of Viti Levu, the main island, after a roof collapsed. Ewan Perrin, a spokesman for the prime minister, said that four other people had died but that the government would not release details until their next of kin had been notified.

Mr. Bainimarama said a curfew would remain in place until Monday morning to allow emergency workers to clear roads of fallen power lines and building debris. Most of the buildings in Suva, the country’s capital on the island of Viti Levu, appeared to have only minor damage.

A CARE Australia aid worker, Anna Cowley, said in a telephone interview from Suva that power outages had hampered aid efforts. “There is still a power blackout across the main island, Viti Levu, which has stopped water pumps from working,” Ms. Cowley said on Sunday, adding that patchy communications with outlying islands had made assessing the damage there difficult.

In a statement, CARE Australia said Cyclone Winston had also caused severe damage to houses and crops in Tonga, which lies to Fiji’s southeast.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/

Yacinta Julio Namacha is a project officer at the Malawi Red Cross Society in Blantyre.  Her expertise lies in community health, but when severe floods hit the country in early 2015, Yacinta stepped straight into an emergency response role thanks to training she received as a member of the Red Cross National Disaster Response Team.

When natural disasters strike, the need for staff and volunteers who are skilled in emergency response to support affected communities is immense. Often these staff must be brought in from outside the country. However, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has worked to establish National Disaster Response teams across southern Africa so that skilled staff can reach affected areas more quickly.  

Once the flooding started in southern Malawi, Yacinta was deployed to Chikwawa district to assist people who had been displaced. Many had lost their homes and livelihoods under the flood waters.  Yacinta was one of the first people on the ground, conducting needs assessments to determine what support was most needed.

“In Chikwawa, we went to the camps and sat with the people and asked them their problems and what they needed. The skills I got from being in [the National Disaster Response Team] assisted me in doing this during the emergency,” says Yacinta.

In 2014, Yacinta participated in National Disaster Response Team training that incorporated practical simulations of disaster situations. During the exercises, she learned how to conduct needs assessments, register beneficiaries, manage distribution of relief items, and plan for recovery. All of this knowledge was vital for her work in Chikwawa with the Malawi Red Cross Society.

After the needs assessment, Yacinta worked on registering and verifying beneficiaries in Chikwawa. She supported distributions and took charge of prioritizing vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, the elderly, and children. Because of her training, she was able to direct other volunteers assisting with the emergency response to deal appropriately with vulnerable people.

“These people are vulnerable and they have already been affected psychologically. If you don’t treat them well, it means you are increasing the problem instead of assisting them. During our training, we learned how we can ensure their dignity is maintained,” says Yacinta.

Yacinta has since returned to her health officer position with the Malawi Red Cross Society, but she remains a valued member of the National Disaster Response Team. Her experience in Chikwawa, combined with ongoing training, helps ensure that she is ready to respond again should another emergency arise.

See more at: ifrc.org