Cyclone Pam has reached the archipelago of Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean and has left ‘complete devastation’ in its wake according to aid agencies working in the area. Tom Skirrow, of Save the Children, said that in the capital Port Villa, houses had been destroyed and people were wandering the streets seeking help.
The UN agencies said that they knew eight had been killed already but dozens more were likely dead and the disaster could end up being one of the worst in the Pacific. The cyclone came with winds up to 170mph and torrential rains.
Destroyed
Chloe Morrison, an emergency communications officer with World Vision who was in the capital Port Villa at the time of the cyclone said that by Saturday morning the streets were filled with debris, uprooted trees and power lines that had fallen. She also said that they were receiving reports of remote areas seeing the destruction of entire villages.
Many people were still hunkering down inside their homes, she added, as it was still very dangerous outside. Port Villa saw extensive damage but the more remote islands were more likely to have seen even great destruction.
Save the Children’s representative added that he too had seen a scene of complete devastation with houses destroyed, trees down and roads blocked while people wandered helplessly among it all. Most of the country saw communications down meaning the extent of the damage in the outlying areas wouldn’t like be known for several days.
Another witness was UNICEF’s spokeswoman Alice Clements. She described 15 to 30 minutes of absolute terror as the storm passed over the capital and she saw the sliding doors on her hotel room were completely blown away.
Warnings
UNICEF in New Zealand had warned that Cyclone Pam looked to be one of the worst weather disasters even seen in the region. Executive director Vivien Maidaborn said that while it was too early to say with certainty, but the disaster certainly appeared to be among the worst in the Pacific area.
Vanuatu’s President Baldwin Lonsdale was in Japan attending the World Conference on Disaster Risk and Reduction, where he appealed for international assistance for his country. He said he spoke with a heavy heart to appeal on behalf of his government and people for the global community to ‘give a lending hand’.
Unconfirmed reports from the Penama province, to the north-east of the archipelago, said that 44 people had been confirmed dead, according to the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination for Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA).
All six provinces of the country are under red alert, sending people to seek immediate shelter. Many thousands spent the night in emergency shelters but most had to remain in their homes.
Vanuatu lies around one quarter of the way between Australia and Hawaii and has a population of 267,000 over around 65 islands, with 47,000 living in the capital.
