The Nippon Foundation Hands Over 3 Community Halls, 30 Fishing Boats to Tonga Using Donations to Emergency Relief Fund (2)
In October 2022, following up on my meeting with Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni at the United Nations Ocean Conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in June, The Nippon Foundation sent staff members to the South Pacific kingdom to hold consultations with the prime minister, senior Construction and Fisheries Ministry officials and other stakeholders to confirm the needs of people hit by the underwater volcanic eruption and the subsequent tsunami. We did so only after receiving word that the prime minister would be back in Tonga from a two-month overseas trip.
After another mission sent to the country in January 2023, we decided to build three community halls and provide 30 fishing boats as part a project to help resettle people displaced by the eruption and the tsunami.
On August 24, 2023, an agreement on the assistance package was signed by President Takeju Ogata of The Nippon Foundation and Tongan Ambassador to Japan Dr. T. Suka Mangisi.
Through our consultation with the Tongans, we learned that the communities being resettled need community halls for their religious and cultural functions.
We were also told that providing fishing boats would be a crucial element of our assistance for their recovery efforts. On one island, all they managed to salvage was one fishing boat－out of a fleet of nine －which had been flung to the top of a hill by a wave, according to a local media report.
Under the agreement, the foundation delivered to the Tongans 30 fishing boats－18 23-foot boats with outboard engines and 12 30-foot boats－on February 28, 2024.
Then on June 17, we handed over the first community hall together with desks and chairs. The remaining two were delivered by the end of July. They were built in three areas where displaced residents were being resettled and would help foster community life.
On completing the delivery of the assistance, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the donors for their generous contributions and their patience to have waited so long for this report on their use.
While the foundation tries to provide humanitarian assistance to those in need at the earliest possible date, it sometimes takes longer than usual to confirm the actual needs of affected people, as in this instance. In any case, we will continue to use the donations we receive responsibly for people in need while ensuring transparency and accountability in reporting on our aid activities.
(End)
