New Zealand’s Sikh community has rallied together, like the rest of New Zealanders, to organise and send relief for the twin disaster-hit Tonga, which was ravaged by a sudden volcanic eruption, followed by Tsunami, on Saturday, January 15.
South Auckland-based Takanini Gurudwara of Supreme Sikh Society of New Zealand had sent out a call within the community in early February to chip in with relief materials in the form of dry goods, canned food, flour, blankets, shirts, household items, and bottled water immediately after the natural disaster last month.
“The local whanau had responded with great vigour and passion as we were able to collect a large amount of relief material worth tens of thousands of dollars within a few days of putting out the call,” Daljit Singh, spokesperson of Supreme Sikh Society of NZ said.
“A full truck loaded with relief material was handed over to the local NZ Police Tamaki Makaurau team in Auckland to be further donated to the Tongan Police,” Daljit Singh said.
Relief material sent by New Zealanders begins to get unpacked in Tonga
Meanwhile, local Tongan media is reporting that the first shipment of aid sent to Tonga by New Zealand community members and businesses is finally being unpacked now after completing mandatory quarantine on Tongatapu.
Fifty-one containers have so far arrived at Queen Salote Wharf in Nuku’alofa, however, local authorities only have enough manpower to manually upload two containers a day and is estimating that it will take up to four weeks to complete the unpacking.
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