Healing the wounds of destruction

It is a small flash of colour amidst the dust and scattered rubble, a simple DVD movie cover flung about by the capricious winds of cyclone Pat. But its title — The Road to Perdition — succinct describes the surface layer of Aitutaki a week after the island absorbed the storm’s fury.
But beneath that shattered and tangled surface, the island displays a strength of character that has impressed all those who are now working to restore a sense of normalcy.
“Overall, we think things are starting to get back to a favourable pace,” said Anthony Blake, part of the three-member United Nations Disaster Assessment Team which is assisting Emergency Management Cook Islands.
“The people of Aitutaki seem very resilient,” Blake said. “They are faced with devastation all around but you still see the smiling faces and they wave at you when you go by in the morning. It’s this attitude that’s bringing the community together and making things move a lot faster.”
As of Tuesday, power had been restored to 80 per cent capacity and the Australian Red Cross’s water purification device had been delivered by the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s C-130 Hercules. Staffers from the Cook Islands Red Cross were delivering tents to those who needed shelter; these, in turn, were being assembled by members of the 2nd Engineers Regiment, on loan from the New Zealand Defence Force.
“We’re here to assist and tidy up at this stage,” said Sgt. Glenn Abbot. “The No. 1 priority at this stage, as I understand it, is shelter. There have been a number of people who have been displaced and, while the weather is still good, the sooner we get these shelters up, the better.”
Two of those displaced were encountered contemplating the ruins of badly-damaged homes.
The tears flowed as Kairangi Henry stood on her Tautu property and told how the power of prayer and family ties has helped heal the wounds of destruction.
“When we come together, we just hug and cry,” she said. “We’ve got nothing to say but to cheer each other.”
Alone Davey recalled how the cyclone shook the house she and others had gathered in for shelter.
“We didn’t sleep that night,” she said.
While Davey agreed that the island is starting to recover and the residents are grateful for all the aid agencies for their help, it still hurts to witness the storm’s aftermath.
“You just feel the tears come to your eyes to see what happened,” she said.
Julie Affleck visited Aitutaki the day after the cyclone hit and was back again Tuesday. She was surprised at the progress that had been made to clean up and recover in such a short span of time.
“The Cook Islands people living here have shown a remarkable energy and effort to just get things back together and clear things up and try to move on,” said the Secretary to the New Zealand High Commissioner.
“There’s a long way to go but there is a lot of people on the ground working really hard to bring back some sense of security to the families who have lost everything.”
She indicated the wind-blasted trees and salt-browned vegetation. “It’s shocking to look at,” she said, “but I have to keep reminding myself that much of this will grow back.”
Fred Charlie and his staff are already working on that growth process. The senior Agricultural officer for Aitutaki, Charlie was, literally, sowing the seeds of the island’s future. In this case, those seeds were capsicum, lettuce, tomatoes and cabbage.
“We are mobilizing the planting of vegetables,” Charlie said. “In two or three weeks, (the seedlings) should be ready to go in the field.”
Using seeds donated by the Ministry of Agriculture in Rarotonga, Charlie said there are three phases to restoring crops wiped out in the storm.
“One is the vegetables, which we believe we can get in two or three months,” he said. “The next phase is the root crops — arrowroot, kumara, taro — which we believe we can best harvest in about six months. And then we are going into fruit trees, like bananas and pawpaws. That might take up to a year.”
Professional growers will nurture and harvest the plants before putting them on the market.
“It’s very important that we go back and plant our natural drops,” said Charlie. “So people can go back to eating vegetables grown here rather than bring them from Raro.”