SUVA (Pacnews) — Huge waves yesterday threatened the homes of villagers, livestock and vessels along the south and southwestern coastal areas of Fiji.
The Meteorology Department predicted that waves of up to six meters could batter the coast, flooding roads, damaging property and threatening lives.
Director of Meteorology Rajendra Prasad initially said the swells would reach Fiji by midnight on Monday, but reports yesterday suggested that experts had little idea when the waves might arrive.
A sea swell is a phenomenon from a deep low-pressure system associated with high winds driving the surface of the ocean to the extent that huge waves develop.
Prasad said in this case the swells will be “long.”
“They can be as low as two to four meters, but in this case they are going to be four to six meters after a report from the Tasman Sea that the swells (there) are seven meters,” he said.
SUVA (Pacnews) — A state of emergency has been declared on Fiji’s largest outer island government station because of a lack of water supplies.
The Fiji Times reports that the crisis has hit Vunisea in the Kadavu group to the south of Suva.
Six hundred people live at the government station, which hosts a hospital, government primary and secondary schools, a police station, a post office, an airport and other amenities.
The state of emergency means government services for nearly 10,000 people on Kadavu have been temporarily suspended.
One government department head is quoted as saying the declaration will only be lifted after the water supply has been restored.
The Kadavu hospital has been closed for the last four days with doctors and nurses only on call for emergency cases.
Police officers are on standby at their homes.
HONOLULU (Pacnews) — The victims of a scam, officially called the Cayman Islands Investment Program, have been told by U.S. investigators that they can begin filing claims to recover lost money.
Five thousand investors from American Samoa, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland lost millions in the scam.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Buttrick said there will be more victims than money collected and its doubtful they will get all their money back.
He said the federal government has so far seized over $3 million, but said that is a far cry from what was lost in the investment scheme.
An FBI investigation in 2000 found that $460,000 had been invested by American Samoans, but there are claims that they have lost around $1 million.
Several Samoans in Hawaii and some large Samoan church groups lost money after being urged on by female recruiters for the program.
And in the territory itself, those who invested include some politicians and business people.
PORT MORESBY (Pacnews) — Forestry activist group PNG Forest Watch is challenging the country’s Chamber of Commerce to make a public commitment to fight corruption in the logging industry and to stand up against the illegal Wawoi Guavi timber permit extension.
The Chamber of Commerce is a member of the National Forest Board, but Forest Watch says it has failed to speak out or take any action on the illegal Wawoi Guavi extension or the illegal employment of hundreds of foreign nationals by logging companies.
The forest activist group is also concerned that although the Chamber of Commerce says that it is against corruption, it appears to have deliberately defeated forest governance reform measures introduced in the Forestry Amendment Act.
Forest Watch says the Chamber of Commerce representative on the National Forest Board is funded by the same forestry company behind the illegal logging at Wawoi Guavi and an immigration scam involving the illegal employment of hundreds of foreign workers.
“It is not enough for the Chamber of Commerce to make general statements about the need to fight corruption. These are empty words unless we can see strong positive action by the Chamber on specific instances of illegality like the Wawoi Guavi extension and the illegal employment of foreign workers,” PNG Forest Watch said.
