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S. Sahai et al.
• The designated evacuation centre (the village hall) is too close to the shoreline.
A safer evacuation space further from the shoreline and on higher ground needs
to be constructed.
• According to the villagers, the urgency and level of necessary preparedness was
not clearly conveyed by the responsible authorities; warnings by the police were
given only a few hours before the cyclone. This was because the path of the
cyclone shifted suddenly only hours before.
• The lack of preparation meant that Tokou did not have adequate medical supplies
for the injured. Since villagers could not access the health facilities by vehicle,
many had to walk to the hospital in Levuka after the cyclone had passed to receive
health assistance. Women had to walk to Levuka to buy medical supplies for their
sick children.
• No one had ever previously experienced a cyclone of this magnitude so many of
the villagers did not take the cyclone warning seriously. They did not follow the
early warnings on the radio and warnings by relatives and work colleagues who
better understood the likely intensity of the cyclone. They neglected the village
headman’s warnings the day before the cyclone hit. They expected a cyclone
similar to previous ones, so they boarded up windows, secured rooftops with
cement bricks; trimmed plants and trees that might cause harm; gathered rootcrops and other fresh produce from the gardens as food supplies. This was what
they would do in preparation for cyclones they had experienced in the past.
• According to villagers there had never previously been a tidal surge in Tokou.
The women did not expect the tidal surges to flood the village so badly, “We did
not expect this thing from the sea …we were just told about the strong winds and
the rain …that’s why I think most of the families stayed in their home [preparing]
the [cyclone] shutters”.
• Most people did not evacuate early enough to the Evacuation Centre. For several,
when they tried, the water was too high and the current too strong for them to get
there.
The extensive damage caused by TC Winston in Tokou effected a change of attitude
among the villagers. They recognize the need to better understand the nature of natural
hazards and climate change impacts they will face in the future; the need to develop
and comply with an effective evacuation plan to improve disaster preparedness; and
the importance of heeding early warnings.
Lack of preparedness, not heeding warnings, and not taking the situation seriously was common across Fiji during Cyclone Winston and was the main causes of
fatalities. Changes in attitude to disaster preparedness were evident across the islands
when TC Gita hit in 2018. Fiji Red Cross noted then that the lack of casualties in
the outer islands of Ono-i-Lau and Votua was due to increased disaster preparedness knowledge and disaster evacuation plans, resulting in swift moves to evacuation centres (Tuilevuka 2018). This is a good illustration of the kinds of culturallygrounded autonomous processes for coping with external (environmental) stresses
that continue to characterize the resilience of peripheral communities in Fiji and
elsewhere (Korovulavula et al. 2019; Nunn and Kumar 2019).
S. Sahai et al.
• The designated evacuation centre (the village hall) is too close to the shoreline.
A safer evacuation space further from the shoreline and on higher ground needs
to be constructed.
• According to the villagers, the urgency and level of necessary preparedness was
not clearly conveyed by the responsible authorities; warnings by the police were
given only a few hours before the cyclone. This was because the path of the
cyclone shifted suddenly only hours before.
• The lack of preparation meant that Tokou did not have adequate medical supplies
for the injured. Since villagers could not access the health facilities by vehicle,
many had to walk to the hospital in Levuka after the cyclone had passed to receive
health assistance. Women had to walk to Levuka to buy medical supplies for their
sick children.
• No one had ever previously experienced a cyclone of this magnitude so many of
the villagers did not take the cyclone warning seriously. They did not follow the
early warnings on the radio and warnings by relatives and work colleagues who
better understood the likely intensity of the cyclone. They neglected the village
headman’s warnings the day before the cyclone hit. They expected a cyclone
similar to previous ones, so they boarded up windows, secured rooftops with
cement bricks; trimmed plants and trees that might cause harm; gathered rootcrops and other fresh produce from the gardens as food supplies. This was what
they would do in preparation for cyclones they had experienced in the past.
• According to villagers there had never previously been a tidal surge in Tokou.
The women did not expect the tidal surges to flood the village so badly, “We did
not expect this thing from the sea …we were just told about the strong winds and
the rain …that’s why I think most of the families stayed in their home [preparing]
the [cyclone] shutters”.
• Most people did not evacuate early enough to the Evacuation Centre. For several,
when they tried, the water was too high and the current too strong for them to get
there.
The extensive damage caused by TC Winston in Tokou effected a change of attitude
among the villagers. They recognize the need to better understand the nature of natural
hazards and climate change impacts they will face in the future; the need to develop
and comply with an effective evacuation plan to improve disaster preparedness; and
the importance of heeding early warnings.
Lack of preparedness, not heeding warnings, and not taking the situation seriously was common across Fiji during Cyclone Winston and was the main causes of
fatalities. Changes in attitude to disaster preparedness were evident across the islands
when TC Gita hit in 2018. Fiji Red Cross noted then that the lack of casualties in
the outer islands of Ono-i-Lau and Votua was due to increased disaster preparedness knowledge and disaster evacuation plans, resulting in swift moves to evacuation centres (Tuilevuka 2018). This is a good illustration of the kinds of culturallygrounded autonomous processes for coping with external (environmental) stresses
that continue to characterize the resilience of peripheral communities in Fiji and
elsewhere (Korovulavula et al. 2019; Nunn and Kumar 2019).