'Heartbroken' and eager to help: mercy dashers depart on first flight to Tonga
Wednesday, 14 February 2018
Big-hearted Kiwis have departed on the first commercial flight from Auckland to Tonga since Cyclone Gita ravaged the island kingdom.
The category 5 cyclone – Tonga's worst in 60 years – tore down buildings, ripped out crops, and flooded the island on Monday night.
Its airport was temporarily closed to all but emergency personnel.
However, it reopened on Wednesday and would welcome hundreds of passengers from Auckland, laden with food, clothes, toiletries, and insect repellent, that afternoon.
**READ MORE:
* Cyclone Gita howls through Tonga: 'It sounds like a jumbo jet'
* Gita flattens Tonga's parliament house
* Cyclone Gita's effect on New Zealand**
Franky Bourke and his 17-year-old son Bailey were on the flight. The pair, both builders, knew their skills would be needed in the cyclone's aftermath.
The pair booked tickets as soon as it became apparent Tonga was in for a smashing.
'We don't know how long we're gonna be working [over there] . . . but the sun comes up at about 5.30 in the morning and we're gonna be ready to go,' Bourke said.
His family had been glued to social media throughout the cyclone, and devastation seen in photos afterwards made him 'feel heartbroken for the people of Tonga', he said.
'I think last year's Rugby World Cup gave you an idea of how passionate the people of Tonga are, how strong they are.
'We heard people were singing and praying afterwards – the resilience of these people is amazing.'
The Bourkes had been stocking up that morning on basic hand tools, knee-high gumboots, and lightweight long-sleeved tops and trousers.
They had also 'cleaned out a Warehouse' of its strongest insect repellent after being told extensive remaining surface water, combined with a recent dengue fever outbreak, had made people fearful of mosquitoes.
Five women from the Toa Pacific organisation, a social services group based in south Auckland, were also laden with goods and ready to board the flight.
Their leader, Malia Hamani, said the trip had been planned as a staff retreat to catch up with family in Tonga, but had become a mercy dash.
They had 14 hefty boxes of food, clothes, and hygiene products between them to dole out to Tongans.
'Anything we have here that's ordinary is luxury for them, so we've packed whatever we can,' Hamani said.
She had been on the phone with her niece during the cyclone, able to hear the roaring winds and rain.
'They were just so scared, and I was too,' she said.
'[My niece] told me how scared she was, the house was shaking, and she thought it was going to fall on the ground . . . and then the water started coming in through the ceiling.'
Hamani said she knew about many elderly Tongans that had lost homes in the storm, and that her group's efforts would be aimed at them.
Ofeina Manuel-Barbarich and her husband had also been heading to Tonga, regardless of Cyclone Gita.
The pair were originally heading there to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but instead of packing for the romantic holiday they'd had planned, their bags were stuffed with gumboots and work gloves.
The couple would be signing up with a Red Cross volunteer team as soon as they landed.
They were travelling with three big polystyrene boxes containg 115kg of meat, milk powder, instant noodles, toilet paper, and other necessities cyclone-ravaged Tongans might need.
'We're kind of young and kind of fit, so of course we're going to get stuck in and help,' Manuel Barbarich said.
'It's our wedding anniversary and it's certainly going to be one to remember.'
The New Zealand government sent 12 tonnes of emergency relief supplies to Tonga on Tuesday in a RNZAF C130 Hercules plane.