THE month-long state of emergency brought about by Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston ended last week but according to the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre, people are still in need of help.

FWCC was one of the first on the ground after the super storm blitzed through Fiji on February 20.

FWCC co-ordinator Shamima Ali said the NGO was duty-bound to check on its clients after the storm and so as soon as the situation allowed they were on the ground.

“Our staff members were out and about checking on their clients as some are single mothers and some in need of help even when there is not an emergency,” Ms Ali said.

“Our first priority was getting them the basics. What they needed in terms of food, water and clothing. But as we went out we found that there were others who were not our client that needed instant relief.

“Then the issue of psychological help came in for all women, children and men. There is no discrimination when it came to this. We have dealt with all cases with equal priority.”

Ms Ali said another issue which emerged was women and children being susceptible to violence.

“In many places that we had visited we found that women had gotten on with their normal lives but were affected.

“The men were missing. Some would go to a relative’s house and leave the women to fend for themselves and their families,” she said.

“In remote areas, housing was an issue. We had to look for temporary means such as tarpaulins to ensure that women had shelter. In most cases it took women a lot of time to open up.

“The damage, whether it was physical or psychological, was often much harder to see and took longer to emerge, for many reasons, including the shame and stigma that surrounded reporting such damage.”

FWCC was one of the organisations providing training and technical support to first responders, and counselling for survivors.

Ms Ali said that while response efforts often focused on the physical damage rather than the human side, especially for women, she was largely pleased with the way the response to Severe TC Winston had factored in the risk of gender-based violence, including prevention.

“From day one we have been talking about the importance of preventing violence against women and children,” she said.

“And our sense is that gender-based violence is very much on the agenda and it is being considered throughout the response. This is a very important thing for preventing and responding to violence against women and girls.

“FWCC has been able to share tools to help in the response, including a code of conduct for response workers and a referral pathway that gives guidance on how different cases of violence against women should be handled.

“FWCC is also providing training to help those working on the frontline of the response recognise the signs of violence and how to respond. The workshops also provide an opportunity for the trainers and participants to discuss and share their experiences from the field, as well as what they are encountering when working in the worst-affected areas.

“The first of such workshops was recently held in the Western Division, involving representatives of the Government, Fiji Red Cross, Empower Pacific, the Aspire Network and others working in affected communities. Further workshops are planned over the coming weeks.

“UN Women provided FWCC with funding in the early days after Tropical Cyclone Winston hit to help ensure their clients in affected areas had access to relief supplies and safe homes. Further funding is being provided to continue training, outreach and awareness, and response services during the emergency phase.”

Ms Ali pointed out that the ability to distribute supplies targeted to women was particularly important.

“We are seeing lots of women with health problems now including bad headaches and painful menstruation. While we can initially provide them with Panadol for pain relief and sanitary products, we also make referrals to other organisations who can help them with treatment,” she said.

She added, however, that this work was complicated by the fact that the health centres that cater for women were not all running normally again because of damage or shortage of staff.

Another issue highlighted by Ms Ali was sexual harassment.

“What is happening now is that some not all, security officers guarding places and workers in the rehabilitation program are sexually harassing the women. We have received reports,” she said.

“We had a workshop with the police and I believe that the police will be out there but these are cases in remote areas where women and children are vulnerable to exploitation. We are acting on it so these things can be stopped.”

Ms Ali said the guideline issued by the Government to all relief workers was quite helpful and now as the state of emergency had come to an end, there was even a greater need to protect those who were vulnerable.

“Men are vulnerable as well. They are affected as livelihood is lost or when the house is blown away and we do help them,” she said.

“But it is the women and children who are more vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation. We have found cases where the men have left the women and children and gone off to relative’s places because there is water supply and power there.

“While it may be the women are getting on with daily lives there are many underlying issues that affect them.

“There are cases where youths are gathering at a spot in an affected area and there have been reports to our field workers of sexual harassment by such groups.

“We are also looking at working with these youths as well.”