Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News Australia

Army of support lands in Fiji to rebuild communities battered by Cyclone Winston

byMark Bowling
21 April 2016 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 2 mins read
AA
Combat engineers lending helping hand

Helping hand: Engineers from the Australian Army 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment helping to repair damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston. Photo: Department of Defence

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Combat engineers lending helping hand
Helping hand: Engineers from the Australian Army 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment helping to repair damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Winston. Photo: Department of Defence

BRISBANE-based army engineers have returned from cyclone-ravaged Fiji after a crucial role in the humanitarian and recovery effort operation, Fiji Assist.

More than 200 engineers from the Australian Army 2nd Combat Engineer Regiment (2CER) have completed a six-week deployment during which they helped rebuild entire, battered communities.

According to the regiment’s chaplain Jesuit Father Bryan Pipins, the Fiji mission was an example of reaching out to a neighbour in need.

“(It’s) helping in a very practical sense,” Fr Pipins, a former army captain, who transferred to 2CER in January, said. 

He remained in Brisbane during the operation, but praised his new regiment’s achievement in Fiji. 

“Helping is part of the strong ethos of army engineers. Yes, I am achieving. Yes I am doing something important – whether it is building a school or repairing a clinic,” Fr Pipins said.

“And for their family at home, there’s the knowledge that their soldier is away from them, but doing a worthwhile job.”

Three engineer troops from 2CER were sent aboard HMAS Canberra to Koro Island, one of the worst-hit by Cyclone Winston when it swept through Fiji on February 20, killing more than 40 people and flattening communities.

With 90 per cent of Koro Island’s buildings destroyed, Fijian authorities quickly identified the repair of community buildings such as schools and community shelters as a key priority beyond immediate life-saving humanitarian relief. 

2CER engineers started by repairing the island’s only secondary school located in Nasau village. 

Related Stories

“People need to talk” – Church in Fiji focusing on long-term healing of Cyclone Yasa victims

Cyclone-ravaged southern Africa ‘devastated’ as aid organisations count the cost

Devastation from Cyclone Idai ‘getting bigger by the hour’ as its full effect is felt across Mozambique

They then spread out to Koro Island’s smaller villages, working with Fijian soldiers to restore many schools and community buildings until more permanent structures can be put in place.

HMAS Canberra, which was stationed off the coast of Koro Island, transported the engineer troops, construction materials and plant equipment to the island via amphibious vehicles and MRH-90 helicopters. 

A recent resupply of materials has ensured the engineers can continue supporting the Fiji Government and Fijian military engineers in their efforts to help villagers begin to recover.

“It was a brilliant use of assets,” Fr Pipins said.

“And working with local people in their community makes a soldier feel loved.

“Whether it is a full deployment, or a six-week deployment, it is always a strain on families, and being able to point to this type of work is knowing that you can go in and change a life.”

By Mark Bowling

 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

African orphans deliver “extraordinary” performance for patients at the Mater hospital

Next Post

This Queensland-based community organisation has sent its first “gestures of love” including food to refugees in Nauru

Mark Bowling

Mark is the joint winner of the Australian Variety Club 2000 Heart Award for his radio news reporting in East Timor, and has also won a Walkley award, Australia’s most-respected journalism award. Mark is the author of ‘Running Amok’ that chronicles his time as a foreign correspondent juggling news deadlines and the demands of being a husband and father. Mark is married with four children.

Related Posts

News

“People need to talk” – Church in Fiji focusing on long-term healing of Cyclone Yasa victims

23 December 2020
News

Cyclone-ravaged southern Africa ‘devastated’ as aid organisations count the cost

13 April 2019 - Updated on 1 April 2021
News

Devastation from Cyclone Idai ‘getting bigger by the hour’ as its full effect is felt across Mozambique

20 March 2019 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Next Post
Students from John Fisher College

This Queensland-based community organisation has sent its first “gestures of love” including food to refugees in Nauru

Neville Davis and family feature

War veteran and husband of translator who helped decode the German Enigma Code at Bletchley Park turns 104

Can a divorced person who does not remarry or start a new relationship receive Communion?

Popular News

  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI turned 95 on a ‘very happy’ day

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Holiness is possible and the Church provides tools to attain it, cardinal says
Faith

Holiness is possible and the Church provides tools to attain it, cardinal says

by CNS
18 May 2022
0

HOLINESS is possible, and the Catholic Church provides the tools for attaining it. That was the theme...

Church workers have helped more than 1.2 million Ukrainians during the war, Caritas says

Church workers have helped more than 1.2 million Ukrainians during the war, Caritas says

18 May 2022
Minority Catholic woman takes pride in Asia’s overlooked saints

Minority Catholic woman takes pride in Asia’s overlooked saints

18 May 2022
Bishops call out racism, gun violence after U.S. shooting

Bishops call out racism, gun violence after U.S. shooting

17 May 2022
Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

17 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping