The church's Tonga Service Centre Manager Howard Niu says they have signed with local contractor Oregon Pacific International to carry out the construction.

Mr Niu says the houses will be provided to members of the church.

He says the church will provide the core of a house.

"We're talking about a 4.8 metres by 3.6 metres to start with. The government and the World Bank donating the other half of it."

"Especially for the most vulnerable group, if you're 65 and above, and or whether handicapped or have more than eight in the family."

The money to support this project comes from the Latter-day Saints' humanitarian fund, to which Church members and others from around the world, including Tonga, donate.

The joint Church and Government humanitarian project will also focus on training locals on Ha'apai in building and other trade skills, as well as support families as they create and maintain family and community vegetable gardens.

Source

• Radio New Zealand International
• mormonnewsroon.org.nz
• Image: mormonnewsroom.org.nz

The Climate Change Summit is trying to find agreement on ways to limit further environmental damage.

"The people most affected - at grass roots level and on the coastal edge - must be part of those discussions," says Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand director Julianne Hickey.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand has produced a report based on interviews of people across Oceania at grass roots and coastal edge level on the environmental challenges they face as a result of climate change.

"Vulnerable people throughout Oceania are living every day with and adapting to environmental changes and challenges. They are actively striving to overcome environmental problems not of their making and beyond their control," says Hickey.

She says Pasifika people think the money going to high level negotiations about climate change could be better spent.

"They're tired of people coming and doing research and doing big scientific studies. They actually want to see action now."

"They are scrambling to build sea walls out of sticks, stones, shells and coral, to protect their lands and homes from erosion and rising sea levels".

The report, Small yet strong: Voices from Oceania on the environment, is to be launched at St Peter Chanel Catholic Church, Clover Park, Auckland on October 4 (St Francis Day).

Source

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: Caritas

The immigration lawyer, Richard Small, says the New Zealand authorities are wanting to send Tongan overstayers back to the area, and he has 30 such cases on his books.

He described deporting people with medical conditions to an area devastated by a cyclone as perverse.

He says New Zealand has a role to play as a neighbour and a responsible member of the Pacific Forum, and should introduce a two-month moratorium on deporting people to Ha'apai, on humanitarian grounds.

Labour's Pacific Islands Affairs spokesman Su'a William Sio has called on the Government to call a temporary halt on Immigration New Zealand deporting people to Ha'apai

Sio says, "Immigration New Zealand's decision to deport overstayers back to the islands of Ha'apai where 5000 people were displaced and 800 homes destroyed was described by lawyer Richard Small as ‘perverse"

He has called on Pacific Affairs Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga to call a temporary halt on Immigration New Zealand deporting people to Ha'apai.

Source

• Radio New Zealand
• Scoop.co.nz
• Image:ABC.net.au

It is estimated that 75 per cent of buildings in Ha'apai have been destroyed or have major damage.

Crops, infrastructure and water supplies also having sustained significant damage.

Amelia Ma'afu, Caritas Tonga programmes coordinator, says providing a safe water supply is the top priority.

"Drinking water is a major problem. Cyclone damage to the water supply has resulted in contamination, so people are advised not to drink piped water. Rainwater tanks which many people use have also been damaged."

Caritas Tonga is providing clean drinking water for 1,500 people in Ha'apai.

Source:

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• Image: Radio New Zealand

Some people - especially women and children mostly affected by the water shortage - from the more remote communities are needing to travel long distances to get water from churches and schools who have a more secure water supply. This is putting extra strain on those other sources.

Caritas, in response to residents' concerns, is urgently providing a mix of traditional water collection systems and commercial water tanks to ensure drinkable water for more than 2400 people in five acutely affected villages.

Source

• Pacific Scoop
• Image: Islandvulnerability.org