In both island communities, religion and faith and trust in God were an important part of daily life:
They trust to God every time and every day and night, and during our work, we thinking about the God, and trust him. All the time. We do our work and think about
the God, give us a chance to make the pandanus (Tonga,
female villager, aged 60+).
Many people described turning to God and their faith, during times of disaster, and that this not only gave them strength, but that sometimes prayer will change the course of a cyclone:
For us, we are a Christian country, so in the community on this island, what they have experienced before, sometimes when there is two or three cyclone warnings coming, sometimes they have a prayer session, and
sometimes the cyclone changes its course. So most of them come and then go somewhere else, and they believe that.
That is what they have been experiencing in the past (Fiji,
male villager, aged 60+).
This strong belief in the power of prayer was mainly held by the older community members, although not exclusively. The speaker from the above quote apologised for his beliefs, thinking that he would be considered foolish, but maintained that they come from experience.
It has been suggested that reliance on faith is a hindrance to action on issues like climate change (Lata and Nunn, 2011; Barnett and Campbell, 2010). Many villagers expressed the view that environmental changes and challenges are God’s will, and some took this further, to mean that therefore the only thing people can do is pray:
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If it’s God’s will, then it will happen. If it’s not God’s will, then it will not happen…only if they pray harder and harder to God to stop the water, it is possible for him to stop the water…he is the one who can stop it
(Tonga, female villager, aged 18-25).
Certainly, the perception that people rely on faith instead of their own actions existed among some aid organisations:
For example with the coast line, if we are predicting that in 20 years for example, we’d say about 1000 people in Fiji will have to shift to higher level of ground for sustainability. But then people are not ready for that. They prefer to turn to their faith, to be optimistic about things, and say that this is nature and nature can take care of itself and we need to pray about it. That’s the culture here in Fiji (Fiji, aid organisation representative).
However, most people thought of God as the ultimate authority rather than the only actor, so that people have to try in the first place:
What I believe, if I have to tie down something outside. But if God like to damage our property, then everything I did has no meaning…take the first step, God will do the
rest (Fiji, male villager, aged 60+).
We can do the praying, so that is the protector. We can take faith that our prayer is working…our faith, if we pray and then sleep, then God do not help us. So we can work. We can pray and we can plant our trees on the beach so that God will see that we will work, and maybe
he can help us (Tonga, male villager, aged 35-44).
Indeed, the most devout person on the island in Fiji, was also the most prepared. The difference between just relying completely on God, and putting work in yourself as well was explained to me:
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I think there are difference. I think some people believe God but only for their lives, directly for their lives, not for their material properties. Concerning their material properties like their house and all those stuff, they have to use their hands. But concerning directly their lives, that’s what they know for sure that’s someone else for that. So the rest, apart from their lives, it’s up to them to
do that. That’s why they were given two hands (Tonga,
aid organisation representative).
Sometimes we have faith to the Lord. He is the one who look after our life. If we do like our pray. If we do the bad thing, maybe God will punish us. That is like our
trust and our faith (Tonga, male villager, aged 35-44
years).
Where faith is such an important part of a community, it will need to be taken into consideration. However, while it may sometimes make the path to community action more difficult, it should be considered an element, rather than an obstacle. Beliefs in the need for work in combination with prayer, and that people are the stewards of what God has provided and need to look after it, may be able to be harnessed to motivate climate change adaptation action at community level.
There were interesting differences in the ways in which Churches
penetrated the communities in Fiji and in Tonga. In Fiji, with only two main churches represented on the island, the Pastors were given equal (or higher)
status with the mataqali (clan) leaders in terms of joint decision making on the
island. This meant that village committees included the pastors along with
mataqali leaders. Presumably, this helped to ensure also that all community
members who belonged to either church were represented on community decision making bodies.
In Tonga, however, with the relative proliferation of Churches represented on the island, their status was enacted in a completely different way. The power and financial control exerted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
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Day Saints (Mormon) in Tonga was clear in the village. Firstly at a purely visual level, the Mormon church was physically the biggest and sturdiest building (hence being used as an evacuation centre), and some houses, funded and/or built by the Mormon church stood out from others as being similarly bigger and stronger than their neighbours. Secondly, which Church you belong to impacts significantly on your post-disaster experience:
The Bishop is first to come to our home, because I belong to the Mormon church. That’s why after it, only the Bishop come to our home and second the Town Officer. Look around. But the first time, help to us is our church, church leaders…the government takes longer. The church, the Mormon church, very good. After hurricane, after cyclone, they going to help hard and fast, good and fast…the other churches, they love their people, but they have not enough money to help their
people (Tonga, female villager, aged 35-44).
Many people in the community, and the Mormon church itself, were adamant that the church will help anyone who needs it, not just members. The fact that the Mormon church is the common evacuation centre for the whole community supports this, and the church has a separate charitable humanitarian arm that provides help to those who shelter there, regardless of membership. However, the difference in experience particularly post-disaster, depending on which church you belong to, was evident and obvious enough that it was considered to be a factor in choosing which church to attend:
But you know there is Bahai faith here, and Jehovah’s Witness. They have a church not strong enough to build a house for their members sometime. Those people like this, they are the poorest people in the village, or on the island. There’s people still living in the old way of living…you must go and join a church if you have something happening. In the future, your church will help you. But some people, it’s a different way of living. People thought there is no cyclone every year. So they
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choose a church they don’t donate money or something like this. But then a church like Church of Tonga, Mormon, Methodist or other church like this, they
donated money. After a disaster is happening, the church will help people. Sometimes they bring food, they will build house, something like this. But some people say - no hurricane every time, so we choose the other church
(Tonga, male villager, aged 60+).
Faith in God, belief in the power of prayer, and membership of particular churches directly impacts upon community members experiences of disasters, with prayer an important consideration in preparation for a cyclone, and churches heavily involved in post-disaster response. Religion appears to be playing several important roles in these communities. Clearly religion has a role in aid and income redistribution, from both within the islands and from the developed world donations and funding. However, the importance the villagers place on prayer and faith both before and following disasters demonstrates the role religion plays in giving meaning to life and events, decreasing anxiety and despair, and providing a source of identity.
4.7 Conclusion
For the remote islanders in this study, cyclones are simply a part of life. They are scary and unwelcome, with devastating and sometimes deadly consequences, but nonetheless they are accepted. Most people have lived through multiple cyclones and many have experienced the damage or
destruction of their homes as a direct result. With cyclones being normalised for many people, thoughts about them are usually restricted to the time of year when they are most likely to occur - the ‘cyclone season’. Within this, some think about cyclones all the time, and others only when there is a warning sign. Traditional knowledge and practice about food preservation was less apparent, possibly because with disaster aid and food rations, people see less need for maintaining the ‘old ways’. This may be reflective of diminishing traditional strategies (Barnett, 2001), and increased expectations of and reliance on aid (Mercer et al., 2007).
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The normalisation of cyclones sometimes works against the communities also, with many expressing the view that people do not take warnings seriously and that some are caught unprepared. Indeed, the experience of Cyclone Ian in Tonga supports this, with many admitting to being ill-prepared, and vowing to do better in future. Having a safe place to shelter during a cyclone is vital in a location where retreating from the path of the storm is not an option. Most people simply go to the strongest building in their village or their immediate vicinity, but there was no consensus on whether or not these buildings are actually safe.
Faith was an important part of daily life in both study sites, playing an especially important role after cyclones in Tonga, depending on which church you belong to. The heavy reliance on prayer and faith in God is an impediment to action for some, and requiring action for others. In keeping with the Otin Taai Declaration (Pacific Council of Churches, 2004), elements of the strong faith should be able to be harnessed to the advantage of community action and responsibility into the future, with prayers only being answered if you work, and people being the stewards of what God has provided. The parallel practices of non-Western countries (Chester and Duncan, 2010), support the notion that the strong faith may be harnessed for resilience and adaptive capacity.
The islanders are highly exposed to disaster. They live in places that frequently experience cyclones, in low-cost westernised houses that are constructed to serve the purpose of providing shelter, not cyclone-resistance (unlike traditional Pacific island homes). They are not, however, helpless. The positives of remoteness (see Chapter 9) - good local environmental knowledge, resilience and strong community bonds - are apparent in the strength and resilience of these isolated peoples.
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Chapter 5 warning signs of cyclones
6On remote islands where communications are not always reliable, warnings of cyclones come from multiple sources. This chapter documents some
traditional warning signs that were described during the community interviews. The signs cover a broad temporal spectrum of warning, and show remarkable consistency between the countries.