Pam leaves devastation in wake

Vanuatu’s president, Baldwin Lonsdale says Cyclone Pam has “wiped out” development in Vanuatu.

 

Speaking to the BBC in Japan where he had been attending a conference, President Baldwin Lonsdale called the storm “devastating”.

“I term it as a monster, a monster – it’s a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu,” he said. “After all the development that has taken place, all this development has been wiped out.”

The BBC’s Jon Donnison, who has just arrived in Port Vila, says just about every house has received some damage. Government buildings, bridges and the main hospital have also been hit. 

At least eight people are dead and thousands are homeless in the wake of Cyclone Pam.

The first report from one of the country’s more remote islands suggests devastation on a massive scale, Radio New Zealand International reports.

“With wind gusts of more than 300 kilometres per hour, Cyclone Pam razed homes, smashed boats and destroyed crops. Aid workers describe the situation as catastrophic. The death toll in Vanuatu is understood to be eight and 20 injured, but those numbers are almost certain to rise as rescuers reach outlying islands.”

RNZI reports the head of the Red Cross regional office in Suva, Aurelia Balpe, saying a Red Cross worker had made it to Tanna Island.

“What they saw was lots of debris, the foliage was completely destroyed, lots of uprooted trees. All corrugated iron structures destroyed, concrete structures, all of them without roofs. And, of course, with all the debris we are very worried about the potential injuries that people may have suffered.”

The Vanuatu government has declared a state of emergency in once province, Shefa, but the Lands Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, is “100 per cent sure” a nationwide state of emergency.

Unicef estimates that at least half of the population of Vanuatu has been affected – with thousands of home destroyed, crops uprooted and infrastructure devastated. As with most disasters, health and food supply are now major worries.

A Unicef worker in Port Vila, Alice Clements, said people were now getting on with the clean-up. “We're seeing people working really industriously to clean the roads and to cut down electrical cables in Port Vila that have been literally covering the roads and [are] very dangerous.

She told Morning Report people were searching for food and eating root vegetables and fruit which has fallen from the trees but that'll only sustain them for a week.

Only one ward of the country's main hospital is functioning after much of the building's roof was torn off when the cyclone hit late on Friday.

The Police acting commissioner Colonel Job Esau said all police officers have been recalled from leave in preparation for what would be a massive recovery operation. Police in Port Vila last night placed some areas off limits, such as such as shopping areas and the waterfront, in a bid to stop any attempts at looting.

“Facilities, installations, private sectors, and also from the yachts that have been washed away by the cyclone. Those are the only areas we have been targeting at the moment, and also some other very affected locations in and around Port Vila.”

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

“Forty five 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.”

The Kiribati government says it is receiving reports of severe damage on three of the nation's southern islands following high winds and sea surges due to Cyclone Pam.

A government spokesman, Rimon Rimon, says a full assessment of the damage is underway but yet to be completed. He says the main link on Kiribati's most populous atoll Tarawa has been hit by destructive seas over the past week but is now operating under police control in a limited capacity after repairs.

He says seawalls and homes have been damaged.

The New Zealand Government has announced 2.5 million dollars in relief, and two more Defence Force flights will head to Vanuatu, following one that left this morning. The Australian and UK Governments have also pledged support. 

Cover image: AFP / Chris McCowage /Australian Red Cross