THE tropical cyclone alert for the Western Division has sparked concern from a senior education official about the state of evacuation centres and whether they will be able to withstand destructive force winds.
"School buildings which are being used as evacuation centres are not ready for cyclones and because of this, we need to have contingency plans in place. We also need to have strategies that will allow us to cope with multiple natural disasters occurring at the same time like floods cyclones and landslides, all of which are happening now," said divisional education officer West Lorima Voravora.
Speaking to heads of government departments at an emergency operations centre briefing in Lautoka yesterday, Mr Voravora also said the onset of a looming cyclone while reeling from the flood could have serious implications.
"People have been in flood mode since January and all of a sudden this cyclone appears and people don't know how to react and handle both situations at the same time," he said.