Local Tongan churches are joining forces to raise money to help restore buildings that were destroyed or damaged during the Nov. 16 riots in Nuku'alofa, the capital of the island country.

The Rev. Langi Fine, pastor of the First Tongan United Methodist Church in Waimanalo, was traveling by car into Nuku'alofa on the day of the riots.

As he entered the heart of Nuku'alofa, he saw people with angry looks on their faces beginning to gather into groups. Shortly after he arrived at his destination at the outskirts of town, Fine said, he saw the flames and the smoke.

"I thought hell was coming to Nuku'alofa," Fine said of the town, which has a population of fewer than 50,000 and is geographically the size of Kaua'i. "It was shocking, very shocking."

The local Tongan congregations are all part of the Honolulu-based nonprofit Faith Action for Community Equity, which provides support for needy communities.

Drew Astolfi, FACE lead organizer, said the goal is to raise $30,000 for relief and reconstruction projects in Nuku'alofa. Astolfi stressed that the FACE effort is not taking sides in the political debate but is focused on the rebuilding.

Six people died as a result of the rioting, which was spurred by young Tongans angry that democratic reforms are not progressing more quickly in the island monarchy.

Approximately 80 percent of the town's businesses and other non-residential businesses were destroyed or damaged during the riot, including the main government building.

Mele Taulanga, deputy principal of Queen Salote College, a private girls' high school near the center of Nuku'alofa, said a grocery store just blocks from her campus was looted.

"They stole everything in that store," said Taulanga, who is in Hawai'i visiting Fine and other relatives.

People were not allowed into the center of the town in the aftermath of the riots. Fine said he wanted to survey the damage so he could report back to those in Hawai'i who wanted to help. He was granted a request to see the damage and was escorted by police into the area on Nov. 19, three days after the riots.

Fine said what he saw resembled a cross between a war zone and a garbage dump. "The heart of the business district had been destroyed," he said. "Huge buildings were destroyed, vehicles were destroyed."

Sima Fine, the Rev. Fine's daughter and FACE administrative director, conceived the idea of a local fund drive and is helping organize the effort.

"I got tired of sitting around doing nothing," said Sima Fine, who monitored the riots from Hawai'i through TV accounts while fretting about her father and other relatives.

Besides First Tongan United Methodist, others taking part include the Kilohana United Methodist Church in 'Aina Haina and the First United Methodist Church in lower Makiki.

The highlight will be a benefit lu'au slated for Dec. 30.

The younger Fine was born in California and has lived in Hawai'i since she was 6, but has gone to Tonga almost annually and considers it a second home.

A possible beneficiary of the funds raised is the Friendly Island Book Shop, owned by the Free Wesleyan Churches, the main branch of the Methodist church in Tonga. The shop, which was destroyed during the riots, was the top spot not only for books on Tongan history and culture, but school supplies unique to the region, she said.

"I really loved that place and every time I went to Tonga, it was the one place I wanted to go," Sima Fine said. "At least 80 percent of the students would buy their school supplies there," she said.

The Rev. Fine said that besides cash and checks for rebuilding, the drive is accepting clothes, canned food and other non-perishable foods that will be taken to Tonga.

Relief efforts are focused on rebuilding because thousands of people lost their jobs after the destruction. The sooner the buildings can be restored, Fine said, the quicker the capital's residents will be able to get back to normalcy.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.