Most Vanuatu people ‘now homeless’

Vanuatu’s president has told the BBC most of his people are homeless after the devastating cyclone that ravaged the Pacific island nation on Saturday.

Speaking from Japan, Baldwin Londsdale said Cyclone Pam had destroyed most buildings in the capital Port Vila, including schools and clinics.

A state of emergency has been declared in the tiny state of 267,000 people, spread over 65 islands.

At least eight people are reported to have been killed.

However, it is feared the toll will rise sharply as rescuers reach outlying islands.

Thousands of people spent a second night in shelters.

The category five storm, with winds of up to 270km/h (170mph), veered off its expected course and struck populated areas when it reached Vanuatu early on Saturday local time (+11 GMT).

The authorities in Vanuatu are struggling to gauge the extent of the damage across the country because communications are down and fallen power lines and trees have blocked roads.

Meanwhile, the first deliveries of aid have arrived on air force planes from New Zealand and Australia.

The UK, France, UN and European Union have also promised help.

‘One toilet between 300’

In a statement on Sunday, Oxfam Australia said up to 90% of housing in Port Vila had reportedly been seriously damaged.

“This is likely to be one of the worst disasters ever seen in the Pacific,” said Oxfam’s Colin Collet van Rooyen in Port Vila.

“The scale of humanitarian need will be enormous and the proud people of Vanuatu are going to need a lot of help to rebuild their homes and their lives.”

Immediate priorities, he said, were providing shelter, clean water and sanitation.

A UN disaster assessment team is due to arrive in Vanuatu in the coming hours.

Mark Le Roux, of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, told the BBC the situation in Port Vila was “pretty grim”.

“We have 20 evacuation centres with about 2,000 people in them, some of our evacuation centres have up to 300 people sharing one toilet,” he said.

Chloe Morrison, an emergency communications officer with World Vision in Port Vila, said residents had woken to much calmer weather on Sunday.

She said it would have been a “very, very tough time” for anyone not in a secure shelter during the cyclone.

President Lonsdale made an impassioned plea for international help earlier.

“I am speaking to you today with a heart that is so heavy,” he said at the UN Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan.

“I stand to appeal on behalf of the government and the people to give a helping hand in this disaster.”

The extent of the devastation is unlikely to be known for several days, said Tom Skirrow, Save the Children’s Vanuatu country director.

Unconfirmed reports on Saturday said 44 people had died in Penama province in the north-east of Vanuatu, according to the UN’s Office for the Co-ordination for Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA).

Pam had already caused major damage on other Pacific islands, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

Tuvalu, a group of nine tiny islands north-east of Vanuatu, also declared a state of emergency after the cyclone caused flash floods there.

BBC