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What happened in Tonga and around the world on July 25, 2020

By
Kalino Latu
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Utah infections

Tongan community radio in Utah is being used to promote safe behaviour during her Covid-19 crisis as infection rates soar.

The Salt Lake Tribune said the state’s Pacific community had been hard hit by the virus.

Jake Fitisemanu, chairman of the Utah Pacific Islander Health Coalition, said Pacific Islanders recorded higher per capita rates of hospitalisations and fatalities than the state average.

The Pacific community of 30,000 had about 1200 cases and at least 13 deaths.

He said health workers had been collaborating with state and county officials and using the media to reach the communities.

“We did start very early on with public service announcements and interviews on our local Samoan radio, our local Tongan radio and local media that’s widely used among our Pasifika people,” he said.

Camp Covid

Tongans flying home from New Zealand will be housed in the Taliai military camp,

National Emergency Management Committee chair Poasi Tei said the government would talk to people living nearby to ensure they stayed away from the site.

Other venues that may be used for housing returnees include the Kupesi Hotel, Makeke of the LDS Church and the Indoor Stadium.

Around two thousand stranded Tongans have now registered online for these repatriation flights.

Predicting cyclones 

Researchers from Australia and New Zealand have developed a new scientific model that can predict cyclones four months ahead of the tropical cyclone season.

They hope their work can help save lives by giving Pacific governments and meteorological offices advanced warning of a major storm.

Dr Andrew Magee from the University of Newcastle said current technology can predict cyclones one month ahead of time.

He said the model also provided forecasts specific to individual countries.

In April Cyclone Harold demolished tourist resorts in Tonga after leaving a trail of destruction in Fiji, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

The Red Cross said Cyclone Harold caused widespread damage to crops and housing

Investing in ocean sustainability

Investing in ocean sustainability is key to rebuilding the world’s economies according to a new report from the World Resources Institute.

The report, which was commissioned by the High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, says every US$1 invested in ocean sustainability could generate U$5 in economic, health and environmental benefits.

It cites forecasts in four main areas: conserving and restoring mangrove habitats, scaling up offshore wind, decarbonizing international shipping, and increasing the sustainable sourcing of ocean-based protein.

Tonga is heavily dependent on its fisheries and ocean resources for food, transport, economic development and culture. Commercial fisheries jobs in Tonga represent a two percent of national employment, but an estimated 82 percent of Tongan families are involved in reef fishing.

Last year Tonga received a US$10 million grant from the World Bank to improve fisheries governance.

Only TP$2.4 million left

Only TP$2.4 million is left of the TP$16.2  million collected  by the sports levy, the Finance Minister said this week.

Hon. Tevita Lavemaau told the Whole House Committee the estimate included a budget to develop all sporting activities in Tonga and the operations of the Tonga Sports Council.

The Minister was responding to a question from former Prime Minister Lord Tu’ivakano, who wanted know what happened to the money that had been collected.

Hon. Lavemaau said the figures had been audited.

New report says too early to open borders to flights because of low level of preparedness

By
Philip Cass
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Despite the promise of a repatriation flight from New Zealand to Tonga within the next few weeks, there is still no sign of a trans-Pacific travel bubble opening up.

Tonga has brought back one flight from Fiji and other nations have also begun repatriation flights.

However, as Kaniva News reported yesterday, the Tongan government believes that keeping the kingdom free of the Covid-19 virus has to be the priority.

Ministry of Health CEO, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola said Tongan authorities had to prepare properly and make sure all steps were completed to minimize risk.

Now a new report says it is too early to open the borders because the risk of Covid-19 remains high.

According to a report by Solomon Islands journalist Ben Bilua in the University of the South Pacific’s journalism student newspaper Wansolwara, the  chief executive officer of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation, Chris Cocker, said the level of health preparedness was below what was needed.

Cocker said there was a shortage of ventilators and testing facilities in the islands.

“The majority of our Pacific Island countries are just not ready and capable to address Covid-19 if the borders are reopened in this case,” Cocker said.

The Association of South Pacific Airlines CEO, George Faktaufon, said it was too early to reopen borders.

“We just don’t have the facilities to control a pandemic in our islands,” he said.

Faktaufon wants to see urgent talks between governments and airlines to make sure airlines survive the crisis.

The future of airline travel in Tonga is already in doubt with the collapse of Real Tonga.

While both executives are cautious about the dangers of moving too quickly to open borders, they say planning for a return to tourism must start now.

“For us, the planning is important because we just can’t pick up the aeroplanes and start flying when the borders open and we find this to be the most difficult part,” Faktaufon said.

Lack of regional co-ordination on some of the issues such as security requirements and quarantine requirement were aviation’s great concern, according to Faktaufon.

However, business leaders such as  Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation chair  Stephen Lyon said it was possible to open borders soon and keep people safe.

He warned that the economic impact of Covid-19 would get worse and could be long lasting.

Around the world commentators are predicting it could take a decade or even a generation to recover from the economic damage caused by the pandemic.

“We are a very remote part of the world and it will take us longer to recover economically than other places simply because of our limited market access and our remoteness,” Lyon said.

“We have got to look at this idea of open borders and when we can get open borders for trade and get the movement of people and goods occurring again.

“I see no reason why processes cannot be put in place relatively quickly. If there is  no community transmission open up for the movement of people and trade between Covid-19 free states of the Pacific,” he said.

The main points

  • Despite the promise of a repatriation flight from New Zealand to Tonga within the next few weeks, there is still no sign of a trans-Pacific travel bubble opening up.
  • Tonga has brought back one flight from Fiji and other nations have also begun repatriation flights.

 

Preparation vital to keeping Covid-19 free as Tonga prepares for first NZ repatriation flight

By
Kalino Latu
-

Remaining Covid-19 free was the most important consideration during the kingdom’s repatriation process according to Ministry of Health CEO, Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola.

Dr ‘Akau’ola said while New Zealand was pushing for the Pacific Islands to repatriate their people, it needed to recognise that Tonga needed to prepare properly.

“Even though repatriating our people back is slow, every step has to be confirmed,” Dr ‘Akau’ola said.

“These little steps can put us at risk.”

The Tongan government said this morning it would begin bringing back Tongans from New Zealand no later than the first week of August.

The number of passengers to be flown home has yet to be announced.

Some of the Tongans stranded in Auckland told Kaniva News they had yet to hear from the government since registering online.

At a press conference in Nuku’alofa this morning MEIDECC CEO Paula Ma’u said 1700 Tongans stranded in New Zealand had registered online to fly home.

Among the people stuck in New Zealand were professionals who were required to assist the Ministry of Health and other countries’ diplomatic staff.

A total of 2724 Tongans had registered online wanting to return to Tonga.

Samoa

Dr ‘Akau’ola said yesterday health officials were also looking at Pacific neighbours to see how they were coping.

He said Samoa was struggling to accommodate large groups of repatriated citizens.

“Samoa’s accommodation is full of repatriated citizens,” he said.

“When Samoan seasonal workers were returned they were taken to a big hall where they are all staying.

“I feel Samoa is struggling. I hope we will not reach the same level, where we can’t properly control the situation. We need to be ready to properly repatriate our people.”

He suggested large groups, such as seasonal workers, should be split into smaller groups.

“We need to be ready to accommodate them where they will fit,” Dr ‘Akau’ola said.

“Not a large bubble but small bubbles, such as six people.”

The main points

  • The Tongan government said this morning it would begin bringing back Tongans from New Zealand no later than the first week of August.
  • The number of passengers to be flown home has yet to be announced.

 

Kaniva mediawatch July 10, 2020

By
Kaniva Staff
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Pope Francis

Pope Francis has told Catholic bishops around the world they should report cases of clergy sex crimes to police even when not legally bound to do so.

While the Vatican has had rules in place for the past 20 years, some bishops have ignored the rules and continued to protect priests.

His comments come in the same week as Archbishop Peter Ching apologized for sexual abuse of minors in Fiji.

There have been claims that it was common practice to move abusive clergy from new Zealand to the Pacific.

Last year Vice President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conferences of Oceania Charles Drennan said the Pope wanted to ensure bishops learn that protection of minors is of paramount importance.

Bishop Drennan represents bishops from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Noumea, Solomon Islands, Guam and the Marshall Islands.

Scammers 

Pacific residents are being warned that online scammers are targeting people in the Pacific who might feel financially vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If people are feeling anxious and spending more time inside, online and on their phones, that’s a perfect opportunity for someone to take advantage of you,” Australian academic Dr Barnet told Radio Australias’ Pacific Beat.

She said it was important to be extra vigilant for online scams during the current health-crisis.

“Be cautious, particularly right now. Be very sceptical of any offers you see.”

Cremations

Tongan MP Dr Saia Piukala has proposed cremation as an alternative to burial as climate change and rising seas threaten grave sits on the coast.

Dr Piukala raised the issue after Tonga’s Minister for Lands and Service said the Government was looking for land to relocate the burial sites for the cemeteries close to the coastline.

But the suggestion has stirred debate online, with many divided on the idea because of Tonga’s cultural and religious beliefs.

Drugs

Two people have been charged with possession of illicit drugs.

Police arrested a 51-year-old man from Tokomololo and seized from inside his vehicle 25.9 grams of methamphetamine, TP$16,000  in cash and drug utensils.

The Drug Taskforce also arrested a 28-year-old woman from Mataika and seized 0.59 grams methamphetamine, TP$100 pa’anga cash and drug utensils.

Many alternatives to dealing with the dead as we face the challenge of climate change

By
Kaniva Staff
-

Kaniva News commentary

The suggestion by former Minister of Health Dr Saia Piukala that cremation be considered an alternative to burial deserves consideration.

As Kaniva News reported yesterday, Dr Piukala, made the suggestion because of the potential damage to graveyards along the coast from rising seas caused by climate change.

He raised the issue after Tonga’s Minister for Lands and Service said the Government was looking for land to relocate the burial sites for the cemeteries close to the coastline.

It is certainly time to think ahead like this to plan for the problems of climate change, but are there other alternatives worth considering?

While cremation might seem to be a way to overcome the advances of climate change, there have been claims that cremation actually adds to the problem of global warming.

According to the National Geographic, cremation uses a great deal of fuel and results in millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere each year.

This will depend on what method is used. In western countries cremation generally takes place within what are essentially giant ovens burning gas.

While laws generally require crematoria to install filters on their chimneys to capture poisonous gasses that may come from the bodies, there have been questions about how well they work.

It has also been claimed they do not stop carbon dioxide or heat being released into the atmosphere.

According to research by Virginia University, emissions from crematoria may include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen chloride gas, hydrogen fluoride, mercury vapour and organic compounds that may produce carcinogens.

All cultures have different ways of burying the dead. Muslims are usually buried within 24 hours of death. In Tibet, local tradition includes what are termed sky burials, in which bodies are left out on a mountain for vultures.

In India, Hindus burn bodies on an open-air pyre. This practice means millions of trees are cut down every year. Because the cremations are held to rivers, it also contributes to air and river pollution.

In the United States and the United Kingdom there has recently been an increasing push for processes that essentially dissolves the body.

US firm Recompose puts bodies in a closed vessel with woodchips, alfalfa and straw grass. The body is slowly rotated to allow microbes to break it down.

The company’s head, Katrina Spade, claimed the process prevented 1.4 tonnes of carbon being released into the atmosphere, compared with cremation. She said there was a similar saving compared to traditional burial when transportation and the construction of the casket were taken into account.

The other method on offer uses a machine called a Resomater, a pressurised canister in which corpses are submerged in a mixture of water heated to 150C and potassium hydroxide for three to four hours until the flesh is dissolved, leaving behind only soft, greyish bones.

After being dried in an adjacent oven, these are ground down into paper-white powder, while the fluid is sent to a water treatment plant for disposal.

The technology was initially developed in the US to dispose of cows during a decade-long foot-and-mouth epidemic.

Dr Dean Fisher, a doctor at the University of California, said everything was recyclable.

The 946 litres used on each body could be used as fertiliser because of the nutrients in it, he said.

Dr Fisher acknowledged that some people found the idea of dissolving a loved one’s body distasteful.

Even without the repugnance some people might feel about the process, the fact is that processes like these require infrastructure Tonga does not have.

Even a crematorium requires fuel that would need to be imported and this would reduce any benefit it might have to the environment.

There is another alternative that could be seen as posing no harm to the environment: Burial at sea

There is a partial precedent for this in the funeral service for the victims of the Princess Ashika tragedy in 2009 when a fleet of boats gathered offshore to remember the dead and lower a grave marker onto the wreck.

Acceptance of burial at sea may require a significant change in some people’s attitudes and practices in remembering their dead.

However, burial at sea rather than in the ground need not necessarily affect customary rites of mourning, funeral or church services and alternative sites of mourning to graves could be established on land.

It is also possible to designate particular areas of the sea for this purpose so that the practice is carefully controlled.

In New Zealand burials at sea have to take place in one of five designated areas and the Environmental Protection Agency lays down rules on how the procedure should take place.

It is likely that in finding a solution to burying bodies in the traditional way there will have to be changes in attitude and perhaps in practice. For some people this may not be easy.

Whatever solution is finally chosen, Dr Piukala has done a service to Tonga in raising the issue of how the kingdom takes care of its dead as it faces the challenge of climate change.

The main points

  • The suggestion by former Minister of Health Dr Saia Piukala that cremation be considered an alternative to burial deserves consideration.
  • It is certainly time to think ahead like this to plan for the problems of climate change.

Family of Covid-19 quarantined flight passengers allowed to drop off care packages at Tanoa Hotel isolation facility

By
Kalino Latu
-

Family members of 57 people repatriated from Fiji on Monday amid Covid-19 crisis had been temporarily granted permission to deliver care packages for the passengers at the Tanoa International Hotel today and next week.

The Ministry of Health has described the permission as to provide the passengers’ urgent needs.

Only two family members were allowed to drop off the care packages at a tent for members of His Majesty’s Armed Forces outside the hotel

The parcels must be labeled with the names of the passengers, according to MOH in a statement said to be from the Hotel’s Guard Centre.

The items must be checked and inspected by the army officers.

The officers will then pass them on to the passengers.

All visitors can only visit the hotel from 12pm to 2pm on Friday 17 July 2020, Monday 20 July 2020 and Wednesday 24 July 2020.

Tonga remains CoViD-19 free after tests carried on the passengers after they arrived in the kingdom, the Minister for Health, Hon Dr ‘Amelia Tu’ipulotu has announced.

MOH CEO Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola has described the performance by a government coordinated team which tasked with welcoming and processing of Tonga’s first repatriated flight as successful and pleasing.

The passengers were initially tested for CoViD-19 in Fiji last Friday and the results received on Saturday were all negative.

They will be tested again on the 14th day of quarantine and if all still received negative results, they will be released to return to their homes where they will self-quarantine for a further seven days.

Housebreaker convicted after judge accepts police evidence over TP$34,000 burglary

By
Kaniva Staff
-

The Supreme Court has convicted a man who represented himself before the bench of serious housebreaking.

Lafitani Mahe, who represented himself in court, was accused of breaking into the house of ‘Ana Kama at Houmakelikao on February 19, 2019.

During the break-in he was accused of  and stealing property belonging Kama, including a fihu mat, a paongo mat, several ngafingafi ta’ovala, ngafingafi drapes, tapa, two Bluetooth speakers, an iPhone and iPad and TP$500 cash.

The total value of the stolen property was TP$34,000.

He pleaded not guilty and elected trial by judge alone and to represent himself in court.

The Crown called five police offices as witnesses.

Among other evidence they said they had found Mahe’s fingerprints in the house.

The Crown also called a witness who said the accused and a girl had sold him a speaker.

He witness said he then advertised the speaker on the internet and shortly thereafter its owner and the police arrived.

Mahe gave no evidence and called no witnesses. In his statement to the Court he argued that the officers who presented evidence against him were not properly qualified.

However, Judge Niu, presiding, said he was satisfied with the police evidence and that the case had been proven to the standard required.

“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the accused committed the two offences with which he is charged in this trial and I convict him of both offences,” Judge Niu said.

Public concern: Tonga Police warn against risky sea cucumber harvesting after three deaths

By
Kalino Latu
-

The police in Tonga are urging sea cucumber divers to take extra care after a third diver drowned this week.

MAFF. Photo/Kalino Lātū

Police said they were concerned after a 60-year-old man died on Monday night while diving for sea cucumbers at Koloa, Vava’u.

As Kaniva News reported on Tuesday morning the fisherman went diving with a group of divers. He was rushed to hospital.

The deceased was the third within a week after two sea cucumber divers died in Tongatapu on July 6.

How these divers died was still unknown.

But critics have argued on social media that authorities haven’t done enough after it was clear death while diving for sea cucumbers has been reported from time to time since sea cucumber fishing began in 1980s.

In 2012 a diver died after using a method known as hookah diving while diving for sea cucumbers in Ha’apai.

That deceased was the third fisherman to die in a week.

Hookah diving uses an engine on a boat pumping compressed air to a diver below the surface.

Police said at the time the method was dangerous and illegal.

New research project will investigate how Pacific children with asthma manage their condition; NZ rates among highest in world

By
Kaniva Staff
-

Massey University is launching a three year programme to investigate asthma in Pacific children.

The University has received $971,541 from the Health Research Council of New Zealand to look into how Pacific children manage their asthma

One in nine adults and one in seven children in New Zealand have asthma, one of the highest rates in the world.

It is a disproportionately high among Pacific people and Māori.

According to the Health Quality and Safety Commission, Pacific and Māori children were more likely to be admitted to hospital with asthma than other groups.

Pacific children had the highest admission rate.

Pacific and Māori were three times more likely to be admitted into hospital with asthma than other adults.

Principal investigator Dr Sunia Foliaki from Massey’s Centre for Public Health Research said the study would assess the availability and use of asthma self-management plans.

“Despite the availability of established and effective asthma self-management plans, asthma outcomes and control continue to be poor among Pacific populations in New Zealand,” Dr Foliaki said.

“Pacific people are three times more likely to be hospitalised with asthma than Europeans or other New Zealanders”

She this could be because of poor levels of knowledge about how to manage asthma in its early stages and how to obtain the right  medication.

The study findings would help develop ways to help Pacific people manage their asthma better.

About asthma

According to the Ministry of health, asthma is twice as common in boys as in girls.

Triggers for asthma can include tobacco smoke, wood smoke, house mould, perfumes, paint, chemicals and gases from heaters.

Sufferers can also be allergic to dust mites and pollen.

Asthma episodes can occur quickly and vary in severity and range from mild discomfort to life-threatening episodes where breathing may stop.

Symptoms may include  persistent coughing, particularly at night and after exercise,  breathlessness, wheezing and tightness in the chest.

Symptoms are often worse when it is cold or at night.

Treatment is normally with inhalers.

The main points

  • Massey University is launching a three year programme to investigate asthma in Pacific children.
  • One in nine adults and one in seven children in New Zealand have asthma and it disproportionately high among Pacific people and Māori.

House destroyed in third house fire in Kāmeli in six months

By
Kalino Latu
-

A house has been destroyed after a large fire ripped through it early this morning

Children were spotted in the house before the blaze erupted but no injuries reported, Neiafu Town Officer Vava Lapota told Kaniva News.

The Fire Service was at the scene before the blaze was contained.

This was the third house fire in Kameli within six months, he said.

The first house fire was reported in January and another was reported in May.

A fourth blaze was also reported in February but that was a house in Leimatu’a.

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