I think the #Tonga situation is the first disaster/humanitarian crisis in a while that has captured widespread attention on Aus/NZ Twitter (rightly so but I can list a lot y'all ignored). But some of the takes on what should be happening right now are... interesting. 🧵 Can definitely understand cynicism on Australia's response given we are facing a domestic crisis of inaction on COVID-19 +other issues. But humanitarians are doing the things. $1 million is fine as an initial commitment. Once more is known, that number will increase.

Thinking of all my Pacific colleagues working on humanitarian response. So tough. While this big event might have captured everyone’s attention globally, in Tonga, Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu, in the last 2 yrs local humanitarians have quietly been responding to… (1/4) large Delta outbreak in Fiji, huge economic fallout from COVID across all these countries creating humanitarian need (drop in tourism & remittances/overseas work opportunities), recent widespread flooding in Fiji, volcanic ashfall damaging crops on Tanna in Vanuatu… (2/4)