About 6,000 people were evacuated to other areas when the Category 4 storm made landfall on Vanua Levu island in the northern part of Fiji, killing one person.

According to the Nadi Tropical Cyclone Centre, tropical cyclone Tomas is građe on the second-most destructive on the five-point scale, causing rough sea and whirlwind.

“The closest it will come is 200 km to the east of Suva capital,” said Alipate Waqaicelua, forecaster for the Nadi Tropical Cyclone Centre.

Before the disaster took place, the Fiji government had set up a national committee on natural disaster prevention and control to help local people cope with calamities.

More than 100 evacuation centres were established on the South-Pacific island nation. All schools were ordered closed and the civil service networks, including aviation service, were temporarily suspended. Policies, armed forces and firefighters were mobilised to help cyclone victims.

Forecasters said that cyclone Tomas is moving to southern Fiji and may buffet the whole island nation on March 16. They warned that Tomas was the strongest cyclone to hit Fiji for the past 40 years.

In 1972, a strong cyclone, Bebe, struck Fiji, killing 180 people.