Directive given to clear schools used as evacuation centres in the Western Division by this afternoon

15,040 people were at 285 evacuation centres around the country as at 12pm today.

The Western Division has most evacuees with 12,394 people at 208 evacuation centres.

1,304 people are at 46 evacuation centres in the Eastern Division, 674 people are at 12 evacuation centres in the Northern Division while 668 people are at 19 evacuation centres in the Central Division.

Commissioner Western, Manasa Tagicakibau had told us earlier in the day that he has given a directive to his team to try their best to clear the schools that are being used as evacuation centres in the Western Division, by this afternoon.

Tagicakibau says the West schools have been closed for some time.

Tagicakibau says he has sent out instructions to all Provincial Administrators, District Officers and the team on the ground to look at all those schools that are being used as evacuation centres and work on processing evacuees back to their homes.

He says the challenge is that some of the houses where people have come from are still not in a good shape for people to return.

Tagicakibau says they will require relevant authorities to establish whether these houses are good for people to move back to, in terms of sanitation and hygiene.

The Commissioner Western says they do not want an outbreak of diseases if they start pushing people back to their homes.

Meanwhile, Tagicakibau says initial assessments have started on the damages to different sectors during Tropical Cyclone Keni.