Shipping difficulties prevented the delivery of hurricane relief rations to individual villagers in Kadavu in December, 1972.
This was stated by the Roko Tui Kadavu then Solomone Momoivalu in Vunisea. Mr Momoivalu said that the Kadavu Provincial Council had asked the Government to let it have the delivery ship for five days but this was cut down to three.
“We were lucky to have the ship at all because it was needed back at Suva for relief work,” Mr Momoivalu said.
He was replying to criticisms from the Tui Ono, Ratu Laurisio Biautubukoso and other Kadavu people about the delivery of rations.
They said ships dropped the food, which was insufficient too far from their villages.
The issue was highlighted in the Fiji Times on December 2, 1972. People had to walk or row many miles to get their share.
Mr Momoivalu said when they found out they had only three days to distribute the food to villages around Kadavu, he decided to share it by districts.
“This was the only way out as I saw it,” he said. “People would not have starved to death if they had not received the relief rations.
“There is still a lot of food in plantations to keep them going.”
Mr Momoivalu said he had asked for 6000 rations initially but only 300 had arrived. He said the 3000 rations were not enough for all the hurricane victims. He had asked for more.
Mr Momoivalu said the shelves of village shops had been empty for weeks because of the shortage of shipping after the hurricane.
The Kadavu Provincial Council’s ketch Tai Natoba and other ships were undergoing their annual overhaul when Hurricane Bebe struck.
It would be a week or two before they could service all the ships in Kadavu.
“This is one reason why there has been a shortage of food like flour, tea and sugar,” Mr Momoivalu said.
“These are some of the essentials which the villagers cannot do without.”
The paramount chief of part of the south side of Kadavu, Ratu Simione Cagilaba, 65, said the hurricane hit his area hard.
“We will need help for many months to come,” he said.
