their summary page lists 44 dead, as reported by the UN, this is situation update #4, from
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/index.php?pageid=event_update&edis_id=TC-20150313-47309-VUT
Tropical Storm in Vanuatu on Friday, 13 March, 2015 at 13:19 (01:19 PM) UTC.
Updated: Sunday, 15 March, 2015 at 05:30 UTC
Description
As aid agencies continue to grapple with the aftermath of Cyclone Pam, which left a trail of devastation after it tore through the archipelago on Saturday morning, early reports of the human toll and developing humanitarian crisis have emerged. At least eight people have been confirmed dead by Vanuatu authorities so far - a number that aid agencies fear will rise as further search and rescue operations hope to extend their reach on Sunday. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said on Sunday there were no reports of Australian casualties among the dead, but added that the Australian Government was yet to confirm the death toll. Ms Bishop announced an initial $5 million "life saving" aid package would be delivered through NGOs and was in response to a request for assistance from the Vanuatu Government. The package will include the provision of emergency aid supplies such as water, sanitation and shelter, as well as a team of medical experts, consular support, and disaster relief experts. As Cyclone Pam finally moved off to the southeast on Sunday, thousands are feared homeless after 250km/h winds levelled entire villages in the country's capital, Port Vila, triggering fears for those residents on the less-developed far flung islands. Evacuation centers have filled with thousands of evacuees, government officials said. Tom Skirrow, country director for Save the Children, said the Vanuatu Government's National Disaster Management Office, which is coordinating the emergency response effort, confirmed the eight deaths. The victims had been recovered from Port Vila, and its surrounding areas. "It's without doubt a small number now and it will increase significantly as we start looking around. The problem at the moment is that no one can phone, no one has any communication or any power so it's very difficult to get accurate numbers," Mr Skirrow said in a phone interview from Port Vila. The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, who was in Japan attending the World Conference on Disaster Risk and Reduction, told participants that the extent of damage was unclear, but that it appeared to be devastating.
"All I can say is that our hope for prospering into the future has been shattered," Lonsdale said, according to an account from the conference organisers. Vanuatu has a population of 270,000, and about 50,000 live in Port Vila. But the archipelago of some 80 islands also has many remote towns on 65 inhabited islands, and the destruction of power and communications lines means there has been little contact with some communities. Mr Skirrow, who was among the NGO representatives meeting with the NDMO on Sunday morning to coordinate the emergency response efforts, confirmed that poor communication access and road blockages had made it "very difficult" search beyond Port Vila and its immediate surrounding villages. But the devastation inflicted on the nation's most developed city - where some villages around Port Vila have been "completely flattened" and there is "debris everywhere" - is an ominous sign for communities on the more remote islands, Mr Skirrow said. Chloe Morrison, World Vision's Vanuatu emergency response officer, confirmed the picture of Port Vila as one of wreckage and ruin. "It's an absolutely devastating sight. 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. "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." On the less-developed island, locals predominantly live in traditional thatched housing. They would have been picked up "like confetti" by the winds, Ms Morrison said, as the cyclone ravaged the islands from Friday night to Saturday morning. "It's difficult to see how any preservation could save a structure like that." So far no contact has been possible with residents living on the outer islands. Communications remain severely limited with the sole working telephone tower located in Port Vila.
On Sunday, Vanuatu's main airport in Port Vila remained partially flooded but had been cleared of debris and was open to aid flights. More Australian aid workers, carrying emergency relief supplies, were travelling via RAAF aircraft to Port Vila on Sunday morning. Commercial flights were unlikely to start until Monday morning, a Port Vila based Australian tourism manager said. Iririki Resort project consultant Bernie Millman who was supervising 40 evacuated guests including 28 Australians from the resort, said he had just been told the first aid flights were about to arrive in Port Vila. He said the official word from the airport was that commercial flights would start in 24 hours or approximately mid Monday morning. "The runway has been cleared of debris but the (control) tower still does not have power," he said. |