Australia Weather News

A shortage of adequate shelter remains a major issue in Tonga nearly a week after Cyclone Gita battered the country.

Many people are still in evacuation centres because their homes are too badly damaged to return to.

Local authorities and NGOs like the Red Cross are trying to provide temporary shelter to people on the main island Tongatapu and nearby 'Eua.

Teams from the Tonga Red Cross are a common sight as they move around eastern parts of the capital Nuku'alofa in trucks and vans loaded with humanitarian aid.

Red Cross team leader Asena Fetokai said they are going street-by-street, house-by-house, asking people if they need help.

"We look at the house and if it's damaged, we can provide a tent," she said.

"If it's only the roof that is damaged, we can provide tarpaulins and also tools."

At one of their stops they find Meliana Longopoa standing in the shattered remains of the house she shared with 12 other family members, including a baby.

Cyclone Gita tore it apart and they were forced to run to a nearby relative's house as the storm raged.

"[It was my] first time to see a thing like that and this was horrible," Ms Longopoa said.

Cyclone Gita damaged or destroyed about 1,400 homes on Tongatapu and 'Eua.

Several thousand people remain in evacuation centres because their houses are unliveable.

The Red Cross gave Ms Longopoa a tent, tarpaulins, tools and mosquito nets.

"It's like a miracle," she said.

"We can move on with our lives. Just slowly grow everything."

Red Cross secretary-general Sione Taumoefalou said Nuku'alofa's east was one of the areas hardest hit by the cyclone.

"It's the most populated and most vulnerable area because it is a low-lying area," he said.

"The other communities are lucky because now [there is] a few days of sunshine coming up and things will dry up."

He said his teams would probably continue distributing aid around the area for at least another two weeks.

"At the moment we're helping out about 400 families," he said.

"It's about 2,000 people that we have already responded to."

It's not just homes that have to be rebuilt.

Cyclone Gita damaged many businesses, Tonga's historic Parliament House was flattened and kilometres of power lines were torn down.

The rebuilding phase will take months, if not years.