A group of Fijian soldiers attached to the Leuchars-based Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (SCOTS DG) have held a special prayer service to remember the lives lost and the terrible destruction caused in their homeland by Cyclone Winston.
Corporal Timoci Tuitubou led the service with a reading from Habakuk 03:1-4.
The ceremony was held at the Ministry of Defence’s Warcop live firing training ranges in Cumbria, where the SCOTS DG are on exercise.
Commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Dom Coombes told The Courier: “Hurricane Winston hit Fiji eight or nine days ago.
“Some of our guys have family who have been badly affected by it. But, of course, for the guys here, they are a long way from home and clearly it’s an emotional time for them.
“We are one big family so we all get together. They are quite religious so getting together and saying their hymns is their way of coming together.
“Next week we are trying fundraising events in Leuchars, to try to raise funds for some of the families of their guys.
“Some of our guys have seen overhead imagery of where their villages used to be and they are gone.
“So the need is there to rebuild houses.
“Equally, if it was any of our other Foreign and Commonwealth guys or, really, anyone, that’s what we do. We come together and look after each other.”
Tens of thousands of people in Fiji are living in evacuation centres after Cyclone Winston tore across the South Pacific country last week, the United Nations Children’s Fund has said.
The total number of people forced from their homes in the archipelago nation of more than 300 islands is expected to be much higher, as many fled to relatives and are not included in the data.
Cyclone Winston, the worst storm recorded in the southern hemisphere, left 42 people dead, according Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office.
The category-five storm has also deprived many of water and it could be weeks before electricity is restored.
Australia has sent a military vessel, HMAS Canberra. It is carrying three helicopters and 60 tonnes of supplies, including water purification equipment and medicine.
The severe tropical cyclone hit Fiji this month with winds gusts up to 325km/h and waves up to 12 metres high.