Housing organisation in Fiji to assist shelter re-build

Tropical storms that lashed Fiji last week caused major flooding, resulting in over 6,000 people being forced into emergency shelters. An urgent need for shelter has seen Habitat for Humanity Fiji seeking funds to assist impacted families to replace or repair their damaged homes as well as taking other measures to prevent hurricane damage to homes in the future.

Funds* are needed urgently to help with materials for both repairing existing homes and building new homes and Habitat for Humanity NZ (HFHNZ) is assisting their Fijian counterparts by raising money here in New Zealand.

“Habitat for Humanity Fiji is mobilizing resources to rebuild and repair homes that have been damaged or destroyed in these recent devastating floods. They also will build 5 new homes and upgrade another 5 homes with basic hurricane proofing measures to make them more resilient to an impending disaster” said Ken Stevenson, HFHNZ and HFH Fiji board member.

HFH Fiji will be working closely with families, teaching them how to build and repair homes for disaster recovery and prevention. It is hoped these families will then have the technical know-how to assist other families during any future disasters that may occur.

Habitat for Humanity has been operating in Fiji since 1991 and has concentrated on providing sound housing to over 650 families to a country frequently hit by extreme weather. A typical house built by HFH in Fiji is now made of concrete, wooden or tin walls on an elevated foundation height of about 3 feet to avoid floods. It is hoped by building more of these houses with these height specifications and other hurricane proofing measures that fewer Fijian families will be displaced from their homes in times of natural disaster.

*To make a contribution to Habitat for Humanity Fiji please visit the website www.habitat.org.nz to make a donation or call 0800 44 22 48

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About Habitat for Humanity:

Habitat for Humanity is a housing organisation that works in partnership with people of goodwill and families in need, to eliminate sub-standard housing by building and selling simple decent homes on a not for profit basis, with affordable repayments.

Habitat for Humanity was founded in the US in 1976 and it is now a global home-building mission comprised of more than 2,100 local affiliates and thousands of volunteers in over 100 countries. Since 1976 Habitat for Humanity has built more nearly 300,000 houses worldwide with a new house being completed approximately every 21 minutes.

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