Nearly half of Tuvalu population displaced - PM

Transcript

The Prime Minister of Tuvalu says nearly half of the population has been displaced by Cyclone Pam.

Enele Sopoaga says most people living on the outer islands have been severely affected, with houses and crops being washed away and at least one island being entirely flooded.

He says there is a health and safety concern following some cemeteries being destroyed.

ENELE SOPOAGA: The islands of Tuvalu have been slammed rather heavily by strong winds and high surges of waves delivering a lot of severe damages to the islands, particularly the outer islands. Nui, it was flooded up to waist and they had to use boats to transport the handicapped or those with disabilities to and from one point to other points of safety. The church building and the classrooms were the only structures on the island that were still safe to accommodate people otherwise all the outhouses were damaged and there's a lot of recovery that needs to be done, particularly the impacts on food crops, on gardens inundated by sea water.

MARY BAINES: How many people do you think would have been displaced, or is it too early to say?

ES: I think on the whole we can say it's almost like 45 percent of the population of Tuvalu. Most of whom are on the outer islands have been affected, badly, severely affected. We are worried about the aftermath in terms of hygiene and supplies of essential materials like food, medicine and water. We also have heard that in some cases whole areas of graveyards of the island communities have been severely damaged, you know, all sorts of materials are floating around the islands.  So there is some sort of health situation here and we want to make sure that things are under control. The whole of the population on the outer islands are affected in one way or another.

MB: Do all people on the outer islands have access to emergency supplies yet or has it been quite difficult to get to some of the islands?

ES: I know for sure that some people are quite finding it difficult and hard to cope with the situation. We have been relying on telephone communications only over the past five days. But I need to be assured, that's why we are mobilising ships, our own ships. The ocean is rather calm now, and we are mobilising vessels to actually visit with a team, we call rapid assessment team, to assess the situation on the islands. And I want to be informed exactly what the situation is. But I, from the reports from the telephone, I am sure there are families, there are individuals, there are people, who are right now already suffering from the hardships. The government, with the help of the National Disaster Coordination Committee including the commander of the patrol boat of Tuvalu from Australia, the commander advisor, are all working 24 hours to monitor the situation and provide by radio advisories to the outer islands to help them respond to the impacts of these things. But right now it's an issue of logistics and the delivery of that help, we need to strategise very, very carefully and coordinate right from now on. We are remaining on top of the issues, I think, and we are trying our best. We will remain as vigilant as we can but we will welcome any help that [can be] delivered.

MB: So the effects of this are going to be potentially quite long-term?

ES: For the recovery of the crops, of course, naturally. And that puts the issue of food security first. In the immediate response of course we know there may still be supplies going to be consumable on the islands but after two weeks we really need to look at some sort of intervention and we, the government, is doing anything possible to do that within its own resources. And we are going to do what is needed to be done for the people. If evacuation to the capital island becomes necessary we will do it on our own and certainly we will welcome any help or assistance from the international community. I have sent a dispatch to all the diplomatic missions, diplomatic friends of Tuvalu - Australia and New Zealand and UN agencies, the agencies of the European Union - informing them and of course welcoming any help, any lending hands that could be availed to help Tuvalu. But certainly the government of Tuvalu, we will do whatever is necessary to help the people.