Marist Brothers Primary School roof still leaking following Tropical Cyclone Winston
Marist Brothers Primary School (MBPS) is located on the fringe of the densely populated city of Suva in Fiji. It currently has 665 students enrolled at the school across 16 different classes and is one of the only primary schools in the city centre. Because of this, the government has instructed MBPS that they are required to accept new students, even though the numbers of students in each class exceeds the stipulated maximum of 35.
As a result of category-five Tropical Cyclone Winston, which hit Fiji in February as the most powerful storm ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, the St Columba building of MBPS has been significantly damaged. Two main sections of the corrugated iron roof and guttering have been torn off. Other areas have become twisted and are no longer watertight. The roof lining on the balconies has been badly damaged and, consequently, the balcony area outside of two classrooms has been declared a restricted area due to the danger it poses to students and staff.
Now, when it rains, water floods classrooms on the top level, forcing classes to move to the hall. Due to overcrowding issues, the hall is already in use with partitions erected to form makeshift classrooms.
Immediately after the cyclone, the MBPS community ran clothing and food appeals to support other schools in the most affected areas.
Australian Marist Solidarity needs your support to deliver much-needed relief to the selfless students, teachers and families at MBPS. This project seeks to replace the entire roof with higher quality roofing sheets to safeguard the building’s structural integrity and enable students to resume their studies in a safe and dry environment.
