Help Coming For The Remote Islands Of Tonga

PANGAI, Tonga - Jan. 19, 2014 - PRLog -- On Saturday, January 11, 2014, the island nation of Tonga was hit by a Force 5 Cyclone named Ian, which tore through the most vulnerable center island group of Ha'apai. With winds of over 175mph, it destroyed 70-90% of the homes and left their 23 inhabited islands without food, water, shelter and access to medical care. Emergency aid is being directed to the four primary islands of Ha’apai, but there are no dedicated vessels available to deliver the emergency aid and medical care to the remaining 19 inhabited islands.

At the request of Tonga, Sea Mercy (www.seamercy.org) is preparing to send two of their Floating Health Care Clinic’s (FHCC) Rebelle and Segue (currently anchored in Fiji) to Ha'apai to take on the role of "emergency aid delivery" vessels for their remote islands.  Their job will be to help deliver local Tongan doctors, medicines, food, water and shelter needed to the 7,000+ people living on these remote islands until the infrastructure can be rebuilt (3-6+ months).

"Our Sea Mercy Captains are the true heroes here," said Richard Hackett, President and Founder of Sea Mercy. "Even knowing that it was still in the middle of the cyclone season, Xavier and Colin (Sea Mercy Captains) expressed their willingness to sail into 'harms way' to deliver the much needed medical care, food and water to our remote island friends." Mr. Hackett uses the term 'friends' because Sea Mercy already leads non-disaster related operations to the remote islands in Tonga with their FHCC program, so being asked to work closely with the national government to help with the disaster relief operations for their remote islands was an easy choice.

"To sit back and do nothing, when you know you can do something, is unacceptable," Xavier Zeitoun said. Xavier is the Sea Mercy Captain of the FHCC Rebelle, a 45-foot sailing catamaran. "In 2013 we visited many of those remote islands and built friendships with not only the islanders, but with the health care staff serving the Ha'apai group. To see the devastation that Ian left behind just makes me more urgent to get there to help them." For many of these remote islands, shallow draft catamarans (such as the ones operated by Sea Mercy) are the only vessels capable to perform these relief activities as they can enter almost any shallow lagoon to deliver the needed supplies. Getting there quickly is their next challenge.

As is their standard procedure, at the beginning of each cyclone season (November to April), Sea Mercy moves their FHCC vessels to safe anchorages in Fiji. As a result, they now find they are urgently preparing their vessels and organizing the medical and non-medical supplies needed to get them back on the water and heading to Tonga for what could be a 3-6+ month relief operation.

"During emergency relief and disaster recovery periods, there is always a great deal of chaos and confusion in the handling and distribution of international aid," Hackett said regarding how they handle international aid. "To help us to avoid the loss or unintentional misuse of Sea Mercy purchased or donated items, we will station our medical supplies 100 miles north in the protected port of Neiafu, Vava'u." Vava’u was spared the devastation of cyclone Ian, and although it adds an extra day each way in sailing to reach the outer Ha'apai islands, he feels it will help insure their FHCC vessels have continual access to the medical, fuel, and food supplies they need to operate.

To more information on how to support their efforts in Tonga, you can visit their website and select the Tonga Emergency Relief link.

Sea Mercy (www.seamercy.org) is a US based 501(c)3 non-profit organization that serves a very specific need for their island nation partners in the South Pacific, their neglected "remote" islands. Working directly with the Health Ministries of their island nation partners, they operate a growing fleet of Floating Health Care Clinic's (FHCC) that delivers free evaluations and treatments to the remote islands that until they arrived, did not have access to even the most basic health care services. With hundreds of miles often separating their remote islands, most island nations lack the funds and resources to operate and maintain a FHCC vessel. Sea Mercy takes on that role for them, delivering local and international health care volunteers, medicines, and supplies, and even act as disaster response vessels.