Solomons Health Minister donates toward relief effort on behalf of his constituents

Solomon Islands Health Minister Clay Forau has donated SBD$10,000 towards the current relief effort in Western and Choiseul Provinces.

Mr Forau handed the money to Nation Disaster Management Office Director, Loti Yates, on behalf of NDC Chairman Fred Fakari’i.

The Health Minister told Mr Yates that his donation was on behalf of his constituents. Mr Forau says his people had received a lot of support from the peoples of Western and Choiseul Provinces after cyclone Zoe devastated their island on Boxing Day in 2002.

Mr Forau’s assistance is one among many overseas donors, private companies and individuals that has been and is still being received by the National Disaster Council.

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) is beginning to identify medium to long term needs of areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami.

NDMO says these include establish program of assistance to reconstruct housing in destroyed villages and repairing the Gizo Town Hospital. It says the other priority areas are assisting communities to obtain materials for making fishing canoes and planning a transition from response to recovery activities.

The National Disaster Management Office also says capacity building for communities following this disaster is also identified as a medium to long term need.

Source: SIBC