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‘My family homeless but alive’

TEARING up at the thought of her sister and brother and their families now being without homes following the Tongan tsunami, Yagoona’s Nancy Lavaka is very grateful after her cousin was able to make contact and confirm the family has survived the tragedy.

“My cousin said everyone was lucky to be alive but there was thick volcanic ash covering our whole village,” she said.
“They really need help but are cautious about aid workers arriving from Australia and New Zealand as up until now the nation has been Covid free.
“It would be a double tragedy if the virus broke out there.”
Nancy said it was a miracle that only three people had died in the tsunami out of population of over 100,000 on over 170 islands which make up the Polynesian nation in the South Pacific.
“We will continue to pray for Tonga and thank God that my own little family, including my husband, mother and children, are safe here in Australia,” she said.