Building of a new Tukuraki village in Fiji's Ba province has officially started after the original village was wrecked by a landslide four years ago.
The new Tukuraki village foundations are laid. The village was wiped out by a landslide four years ago. Photo: Supplied/SPC
Four members of one family died in that landslide which rendered the village uninhabitable.
Since then about 100 people have been harboured by a neighbouring village but now they are to get their own site close by in the Ba hinterland.
Financed by the European Union and overseen by the National Disaster Management Office and the Pacific Community the villagers should be able to move in by October.
An SPC spokesperson Lisa Kingsberry said that at the groundbreaking the villagers kept expressing delight at how safe they feel at the new site.
"Because they have been through it and it was traumatising and they spent two days digging the family out - (at a) remote location, weeks of rain. So I think for the community it will be a really positive experience, although sad, leaving their traditional land."
Ten months after the landslide in 2012 the old village was hit by Cyclone Evan while this year's Winston added to the destruction.
