Support rolls in for Waimate fire survivors

(3 News)
(3 News)

Offers of cash, a place to stay and beds to sleep on are rolling in for three sisters who survived a blaze that killed their mother, father and brother yesterday.

Parents Tej and Tika Kafle, and eight-year-old Prem were killed when a fire broke out at their home above the restaurant they operated in the Canterbury town of Waimate, halfway between Dunedin and Christchurch.

The couple's three daughters, aged 11, 17 and 23, managed to escape.

Waimate Mayor Craig Rowley called it "a tragic day for the whole community".

"It's going to take a bit of getting over when you lose three of your residents in such a tragic incident, but these small towns pull together when times get tough. We'll get through it," he said on the Paul Henry programme this morning.

Mr Rowley owns the shop next door to the family's business, the Everest Indian Restaurant, and knew them well.

They moved to Waimate from Christchurch last year after their home was destroyed in the earthquakes.

A mayoral fund has been set up for the public to help the three young woman financially. Donations have already reached $6500 and other offers of assistance are being collated by the Waimate District Council.

"It will go towards some of the Nepalese community for them to administer for these girls moving forward," says Mr Rowley.

"They're obviously going to need a lot of different things as they pass through life, so hopefully we can get a substantial amount to make life slightly easier after this tragedy."

Others have offered tangible help.

"A lady from Ashburton said she had a six-bedroom house on a large property, and she'd be more than happy to put the girls up there for as long as they needed to stay," says Mr Rowley.

"I had the manager from Beds R Us in Ashburton ring yesterday – he's got three brand new beds put aside."

The three daughters were treated at Timaru Hospital, and are currently staying with an uncle in Christchurch.

Prem's classmates are struggling to come to terms with his death.

He, along with one of his sisters, attended Waimate Main School. Principal Adam Rivett says they're in shock.

"Some children were very upset, some children didn't understand – some children don't understand that death is quite a final thing, so there was a range of reactions," he told RadioLIVE.

"But really, what's been lovely to see is it actually giving the children the opportunity to support each other."

Mr Rivett says Prem was a typical eight-year-old boy.

"He got up to boy stuff – he played in the trees, he played in the grass, he did all the stuff that boys did. He was one of that class. He was obviously learning English, and he was doing a good job of that, and he was really accepted as part of our school."

He says the school will help the sisters in anyway it can.

3 News