DAVID ADAMS reports…
The official death toll from Cyclone Pam, which struck Vanuatu late Friday and into early Saturday with wind gusts of up to 320kph, has risen to 24 people while at least 30 more have suffered injuries.
The news comes amid reports that as many as 70 per cent of the Pacific Island nation’s population of some 250,000 has been displaced as a result of the cyclone. On the island of Efete, home to the capital of Port Vila, some 90 per cent of homes are estimated to have been destroyed.
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Aftermath of a storm: Scenes in Vanuatu after the island nation was struck by Cyclone Pam late on Friday and early Saturday. PICTURES: Courtesy of UNICEF |
Vanuatu’s President Baldwin Lonsdale said the humanitarian need was immediate with all the infrastructure the government had built in recent years destroyed.
“We need international funding to (re)build all the infrastructure,” he reportedly said.
A number of countries, including Australia, have already responded with personnel and pledges of aid.
On Monday, Aurélia Balpe, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, described the damage as “enormous” and said it will take some time before the full extent of the disaster is known.
The southern island of Tanna, where the cyclone made its first landfall, took the full brunt of the storm.
Peter Lawther, a Red Cross shelter specialist who is among 100 staff and volunteers the organisation has deployed in the wake of the disaster, said the island, located about 200 kilometres south of Port Vila, had been “simply flattened”.
“Schools and concrete homes across Tanna are destroyed,” he said. “Shelter, along with water and food, remain a top priority. We are working on getting help here as quickly as possible.”
Colin Collett van Rooyen, Oxfam’s country director in Vanuatu, said there were grave concerns for people in the outer islands of the 65 island archipelago.
“Getting to these islands in the best of times can be a challenge but getting to them now is very very difficult,” he said.
“It could take between three days to a week to reach people in these more remote communities and every day counts in a situation like this for people who are injured and without food and clean water.
UNICEF has said some 60,000 children have been affected by the disaster with the organisation “particularly concerned” about their health, nutrition, safety, schooling and recovery.
One of its staff members – Alice Clements, who was in Port Vila during the storm – said it felt “like the world was coming to an end” when it hit.
“The winds were incredibly strong, ripping off roofs, destroying homes and damaging hospitals and schools. Countless homes have been torn apart and communities have been left in ruins.”
Earlier, World Vision worker Chloe Morrison – in the capital of Port Vila throughout the cyclone – said the destruction was “devastating”.
“We’re seeing whole buildings and structures blown away. And those were large buildings – the smaller structures people are living in just didn’t have a chance in category five cyclone,” she said.
“Whole villages have been blown away. The homes have been absolutely completely flattened, they’re just piles of timber, and sometimes not even that. They just are totally decimated.”
TO DONATE
• Australian Red Cross Cyclone Pam (Vanuatu) 2015 Appeal – call 1800 811 700 or visit www.redcross.org.au/cyclone-pam-vanuatu-2015-appeal.aspx
Caritas Australia’s Pacific Emergency Appeal – Visit www.caritas.org.au/learn/emergency-response/pacific-emergency-appeal
• Oxfam Australia’s Cyclone Pam Appeal – call 1800 034 034 or visit www.oxfam.org.au/cyclonepam
• Tear Australia’s Vanuatu Cyclone Appeal – Visit www.tear.org.au
• UNICEF Appeal – Visit www.unicef.org.au/Donate/One-off-Donation/Cyclone-Pam-Vanuatu-Appeal.aspx
• World Vision Australia’s Disaster Ready program – call 13 32 40 or visit www.worldvision.com.au/cyclonepam
