Communication and Coordination Key to Mormons’ Quick Response to Cyclone Ian Emergency

The day after Cyclone Ian hit Tonga, the Regional Welfare Committee of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints met on the island of Tongatapu to assess the needs of the people on the Ha’apai islands, where damage was the greatest.

Presidents of the stakes on Tongatapu joined with other church leaders in the special Sunday evening meeting under the direction of the committee chair, Inoke Kupu, President of the Tonga Liahona Stake. (A stake is a group of several congregations similar to a diocese.)

When they returned to their home congregations, the church leaders shared what they had learned with fellow members and asked for donations and volunteers.

 At 7:00 am the next morning (Monday), volunteers began picking up the donations and taking them to specified Latter-day Saint churches to be loaded onto trucks.

By 10:00 a.m. the trucks began arriving at the Church’s Welfare Office in Nuku’alofa where the cargo was to be transferred into containers and then delivered to the wharf for shipment to Ha’apai.

By 11:00 a.m. it was obvious that so many donations were coming in that it would be better to move the collection site to the wharf. There the volunteers filled twenty-one 4 ft x 6 ft x 8 ft ferry containers, which were all that the boat could carry.  The remaining donations were loaded directly into rooms on the boat, filling them to capacity.

President Inoke Kupu coordinated the efforts of stake presidents and bishops who were responsible for the quick and efficient process. Hundreds of people came to help with the lifting and loading.  Ana Ika, the Latter-day Saints’ Country Welfare Manager, and Elder Alan and Sister Susan Webb, a married couple serving as humanitarian missionaries for the Church, assisted on site throughout the day.

According to Sister Webb, “The response for assistance was overwhelming! On average there were eight to ten truckloads delivered from each of the fourteen stakes on the island of Tongatapu.”

By 6:00 pm the ferry was fully loaded with food, water, clothing, and bedding to help ease the emergency situation. The boat sailed from Tongatapu that night and arrived in Ha’apai Tuesday morning. 

The shipment included 5 tons of clothing; 27.5 tons of flour; 14 tons of sugar; 5.5 tons of rice; 1500 boxes of noodles; 4 tons of bananas, taro and other root crops; and 4 tons of bottled water. Another 4.5 tons of miscellaneous items, including tinned fish, corned beef, cooking oil, detergent, bath soap, shampoo and toilet paper were also sent. The Tongan government paid for the freight costs.

In Ha’apai, Latter-day Saint Young Single Adults and full-time missionaries joined other church members and local villagers to unload the cargo. They worked under the direction of President Tonga’onevai of the Pangai, Ha’apai Stake who is also coordinating with the bishops and local town officials to distribute goods to those in need.

Because the boat would take hours to get to Ha'apai, the Church's Humanitarian Welfare team arranged for initial deliveries of aid to go via airplane on Monday. What they did not have already in their stock of emergency supplies and equipment they purchased. Four flights carrying people and supplies to Ha'apai that day delivered two generators, three chain saws, a water pump, four water filters, 2000 pounds of water, 215 tarps, rope, hammers, axes, crow bars, and water containers.

Leitoni Tupou, President of the Tonga Nuku’alofa Mission sent an additional 12 missionaries to join the 18 already located on the Ha’apai Islands. They have been divided into three teams of ten and are working under the direction of local priesthood leaders in relief assistance and cleanup. He also sent 30 water filters from the mission’s supplies.