Villagers said to be living on coconuts

By SAMUEL RAITANO
VILLAGERS in ward seven of the Kairuku local level government in Central are surviving on coconuts following the destruction of their food gardens by floods, the ward councillor says.
Anna Aitsi Sikoni said the Paikua and Angabanga rivers had burst their banks when rains started last month.
She said the people in Abiara Oreke and Bereina villages were walking in knee deep water and their food gardens have been destroyed.
Sikoni said 2,900 people in her ward were affected and needed immediate help from the national and provincial disaster authorities.
“Mi laik toksave olsem mipla kisim bikpla hevi. Ol manmeri nogat kaikai na i kaikai kokonas tasol. (We are really suffering. There is no food so people are surviving on coconuts),” she said.
Sikoni said many houses had their foundation posts under water and with the rains continuing, some homes would be caused by water soon.
Villages along the river banks were threatened as rain continued, she said.
She made an urgent appeal to the concerned authorities to help in providing relief supplies.