Cyclone Pam relief efforts gain momentum in battered Vanuatu
The storm killed at least 24 people and has left over 3,300 homeless in the South Pacific nation. Officials say the country's early warning system helped it avoid a more sweeping death toll.
The storm killed at least 24 people and has left over 3,300 homeless in the South Pacific nation. Officials say the country's early warning system helped it avoid a more sweeping death toll.
Five days after Cyclone Pam tore across the string of islands that make up Vanuatu in the fiercest storm to hit in the world since Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, the full extent of damage is still unknown. However, aid workers and officials are crediting early warning systems and a well-prepared society for keeping the death toll low.
It鈥檚 been a challenge delivering aid given the devastation. The storm damaged nearly all homes on Tanna, the southern island, and destroyed almost all its crops.
Aid workers have reported remote island communities painting large white 鈥淗鈥漵 on the ground and using mirrors to try and signal for help, reports Reuters. A small planeload of fresh water and food reached Tanna today, and a ferry left from the capital for Tanna with more aid expected to arrive by Thursday. Relief forces have been sent from Australia, Britain, France, and New Zealand.
An estimated 3,300 people are homeless and 24 people have been confirmed dead in the series of more than 80 islands that make up Vanuatu in the South Pacific, the BBC reports.聽Both numbers are expected to rise as relief workers reach more islands. UNICEF estimates some 60,000 children are in need of emergency response and the World Food Programme reports about two-thirds of the population 鈥� or 170,000 people 鈥� have been affected by the cyclone.
But the scattered geography of residents, combined with the advent of cell phones and real-time storm tracking, helped avoid a more sweeping death toll, officials say. According to Reuters:
Some survivors have questioned a lack of visible relief support from the Vanuatu government, The Guardian reports. Prime Minister Joe Natuman urged citizens to 鈥減lant their own gardens and survive,鈥� and the government struggled to provide immediate aid because communication networks were down.聽
Vanuatu resident Ruth Louhman told the Guardian that her home was one of only three in her community to escape destruction. 鈥淲ipeout in a minute and we have to start again,鈥� she said while replanting cabbages on Wednesday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e eating starches, fruits and we cannot survive if we don鈥檛 eat the ones fallen from the trees and the ones that were pulled up.鈥�
Vanuatu is one of the world鈥檚 poorest countries. About 80 percent of its population works in small-scale agriculture. And it鈥檚 not stranger to disaster: the island chain sits on the Pacific Ocean's 鈥淩ing of Fire鈥� and experiences frequent earthquakes and tsunamis. Rising sea levels also pose a mounting threat.