Many would have family members with destroyed homes. And while he did not know of any Oamaru Tongans who were in the islands at the time of the storm, islanders in Oamaru were thinking about friends and family in Tonga.
With an unofficial estimate of about 1000 people identifying as Tongan living in Oamaru today, the community has been described as Oamaru’s largest visible minority.
And many Tongans in Oamaru, Mr Asi said, still had a strong connection to their homeland.
"Each individual here, they have their own families back home, even siblings" he said.
"I still have my dad and sisters in Tonga — it’s a very devastating time."The children are the ones I’m worried about — they won’t forget that night. It’s a crisis, you know.
"It’s on Facebook ... people are talking about it. And my sister’s water and power is still off; it’s still cut for my cousins and my sister back home."
Individuals were sending money to their families back home, he said. Mr Asi is hoping to meet Tongan ministers and community leaders in the near future to organise sending a container to Tonga. Instead of money, goods — especially food — would do a lot of good. And it could cost about $5000 to send a shipping container to Tonga.
Long-time Oamaru-based Tongan Frances Oakes said it was important to consider beyond the "here and now" of the disaster relief.
"The basic needs are obviously shelter and food, and medicine as well," she said.
But long-term displacement could lead to "follow on effects".
"It can lead on to other problems, not just physical — psychological, emotional."
Tonga Havea, a lay preacher at the Oamaru Tongan Methodist Parish, said many Tongans in Oamaru had "things on their own plate" and children to feed and he questioned whether families sending money to their families struggling in the islands was the best way to approach the recovery.
Perhaps some "young men" could come to New Zealand to work rather than face unemployment at Tonga. In Dunedin, Finau Taungapeau, who helps co-ordinate the Dunedin Tongan Community group, said the group was taking stock of whether families of people in the town were impacted by the cyclone.
Dunedin Tongans would likely meet within the next week to organise relief efforts, she said.
