It’s hard to believe that a week ago we were in the beautiful island kingdom of Tonga. As such we were probably one of the last travel bloggers to visit Tonga before the category 4 cyclone hit overnight!
This time last week we enjoyed seeing the blowholes that stretch along the beautiful Tongan coastline, saw the royal palace, the tombs of the ancient rulers, enjoyed the stunning beaches of this flat island and dreamed of swimming with the whales! Relatively untouched by tourism, Tonga to us seemed ripe for development due to its unspoilt islands and stretches of beautiful beaches, along with geological gems of its blowholes. While not a rich kingdom, the people of Tonga we found to be warm and welcoming. It is hard to imagine what those same people will be going through today in the wake of Cyclone Gita!
As reports come out revealing the depths of the devastation the people of Tonga are in our thoughts and prayers. At this stage not much information has come out on how you can help the people of Tonga but as more information is released I will be updating this post on how you can help.
For now it seems that the coordination of the disaster relief is being conducted by the New Zealand Res Cross. While Habitat for Humanity are also preparing a response.
There is more information about relief to be found here