Orchardist Mark Vesty was personally funding supplies being put together to send up to Tonga, including dry food items and medical packs, while Watties has also donated canned goods. Photo: NZDF
Hawke’s Bay orchardist Mark Vesty appreciates more than most the human impact the Tongan eruption has taken upon the nation’s people.
His ties to the island nation are strong, particularly to the tiny outlying island of Atatā, the nearest inhabited island to the volcano. Some of his workers have been coming from there to work on the family’s orchard for the past 15 years.
Overall, Tongan workers account for about 1000 of the 12,000 RSE workers coming to New Zealand every year.
Royal NZ Air Force (RNZAF) surveillance photos of the flower and stem shaped Atatā atoll are captioned in bleakly clinical style by RNZAF staff, categorising it as “catastrophic” damage.
Only a church remains standing of its 70 buildings.
“We have 12 workers from there who have been stuck here in New Zealand for the past two years unable to get home, and had another three coming over in February, but that will be quite uncertain now. Every day is a new day when it comes to RSE nowadays,” Vesty said.
Because the island is so close to the volcano, Tongan authorities are undertaking to permanently relocate Atatā’s 30 families.
He said the workers here in NZ, and those intending to come here, face a terrible quandary for their future.
Those here know that they don’t have a home to return to on the atoll and will need to try and start a new life, while those who were intending to come down to earn valuable income have no way of doing so at present.
“They have had videos sent and have now been in contact with families up there, and it is at least as bad as they thought, maybe worse,” he said.
With the summerfruit harvest just completed, and three weeks until the apple harvest begins, Vesty said he had been hoping the workers could finally return home by late May.
Like many orchardists he has built strong ties with the islanders, often visiting them during the quiet period here.
“And it is even tougher because they also lost the main employer on their island, the local resort,” he said.
The Royal Sunset Island resort has been wiped out, along with most of the island’s other structures.
The devastation from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption also comes on the heels of Cyclone Harold that inflicted US$100million worth of damage on the kingdom in April 2020.
Vesty was personally funding supplies being put together to send up to Tonga, including dry food items and medical packs, while Watties has also donated canned goods.
While his primary concern was the welfare of his staff, he said the event had only added greater uncertainty to the supply of RSE workers, with the impending harvest looking like it may break all records for size, and staff in diabolically short supply.
Sefita Hao’uli the NZ RSE liaison manager and a Tongan himself said 700-800 Tongan workers have been in NZ long-term. Seventy had been intending to return home this month until the eruption cancelled all commercial flights to the kingdom.
“We have had a volcano, a tsunami, and it is still cyclone season. We can only hope these things don’t come in threes,” he said.
He said relocating families was not a simple task, with the main island of Tongatapu already under population pressure.
“For some, it may pay for them to remain in NZ as hard as that is with what has happened at home. But for many from the islands of Mango and Atatā, they may prefer to be back home to sort out their new life,” he said.
So far 16 containers containing food and supplies have been donated in Auckland, while Katikati kiwifruit growers have put together a container, and growers in Hawke’s Bay are doing the same.
About 400 Tongan RSE workers were due to arrive in February, but there are logistical difficulties now in liaising with them scattered across the island group with communications damaged.
“We are hoping those numbers can be maintained but because of what has happened, some may need to remain at home, but others may come for six months here,” he said.
While the airport is now open for relief flights, there is no sign yet of when commercial arrivals and departures can commence.
The kingdom’s strict controls over covid-19 may also complicate RSE returns and requirements.
“A relief flight from Australia that had some unvaccinated people on board was required to turn around,” he said.
He is, however, heartened by Immigration NZ extending visas to workers stuck here and was confident this would continue.
