People affected by Fiji's recent floods have so far withdrawn nearly 3-million US dollars from their retirement savings to meet immediate needs.
Speaking to Fijilive, the chief executive for the Fiji National Provident Fund Aisake Taito confirmed that 45, 000 people have applied for its natural disaster benefit scheme.
The maximum amount allowed to be withdrawn for this scheme is just over 500 US dollars.
Taito says apart from the scheme, put in place after the floods two weeks ago, at least 5109 people had applied for housing and education assistance as well.
He says people should remember taking out excessive money now will later reduce a member's funds for retirement.
