Vanuata Cyclone Death Toll Rises to 24
One-week old baby and four foreigners - aboard yachts in Port Vila harbour - among the dead as families begin salvaging belongings
By Paul Chapman, Wellington
2:29AM GMT 17 Mar 2015
At least 24 people are confirmed dead in cyclone-ravaged Vanuatu, including a one-week-old baby and four foreigners.
The official death toll, issued by the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is almost certain to rise once the situation becomes clearer on more remote islands in the scattered archipelago.
Some 3,300 residents are known to be sheltering in evacuation centres, the UN said, after their homes were swept away when Cyclone Pam devastated the islands at the weekend.
Estimates by aid agencies put the number of homeless at anything up to half the impoverished Pacific nation’s population of 267,000.
The baby died after winds gusting at up to 190mph tore the roof off the Pakaroa Presbyterian church, in which its parents had taken shelter, said Patrick Sarjinson, a government worker in the capital, Port Vila.
“Just one week old … dead, because the roof is gone,” he said.
Four people, described as non-residents and understood to be foreigners, who were aboard yachts moored in Port Vila harbour, are also among the dead.
The bodies of a middle-aged man and a family of three, including a young child, were retrieved from the harbour, a local woman said.
Up to 100 yachts in the harbour were destroyed or sank when they were smashed against the shore by huge waves.
As officials struggled to get every available plane or helicopter airborne to assess the damage on outlying islands, residents with machetes were chopping away at fallen trees to try to clear the streets of Port Vila.
Others began the huge task of clearing up the debris of their homes, many of which were fragile structures built of iron sheeting.
Women and children were gathering up their families’ wind-blown possessions to see what could be salvaged.
Storm damage to boats caused by Cyclone Pam in Port Vila
Bridges were destroyed in the storm, stretches of road washed away, and most of the islands’ infrastructure lies in ruins.
As relief supplies began to be distributed, aid workers warned that some areas had only a week’s worth of food available, with villagers relying on fruit that had fallen from trees in the storm.
Several islands which exist on subsistence farming are reported to have lost their entire crop and much of the drinking water is contaminated.
Alice Clements of Unicef said she had spoken to a woman who was nine months pregnant and who lost her home.
Six vaccination teams are working in Port Vila as fears grow of a possible measles outbreak.
There had been several cases of the disease before Cyclone Pam arrived, and the plight of thousands sheltering together in close confines could cause the infection to spread, Ms Clements said.
Port Vila’s hospital has been overwhelmed with patients and beds have been moved outside after part of the roof was torn off by the high winds.
Surgeon Richard Leona told Australia’s Channel 7: “The wards have all been evacuated because of structural damage.
“We need to get an urgent drug supply and food, and also set up a mobile hospital to deal with the influx of patients coming in.”
Reports said Port Vila’s morgue had also been damaged.
Up to 90 per cent of buildings in the capital have been either destroyed or damaged, and on the southern island of Tanna even concrete buildings failed to stand up to the Pam’s fury.
Military aircraft taking supplies from Australia and New Zealand returned home carrying shocked tourists out of the shattered country.
In Sydney, Australian Ralph Scott spoke of the terror the cyclone caused.
“I’ve never seen or heard anything like that noise,” he told the AP news agency.
“It was frightening, it was supersonic, it was terrible.”
He said the aftermath was “utter devastation”.
“Houses, roads washed away, people walking around like zombies.”
As international relief efforts gathered pace, reports emerged of damage caused by Pam in other Pacific islands, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.
Meanwhile, in New Zealand’s Chatham Islands, civil defence teams were on standby to assist as residents braced for the arrival of the now ex-tropical cyclone, which is still packing powerful winds.
By Paul Chapman, Wellington
2:29AM GMT 17 Mar 2015
At least 24 people are confirmed dead in cyclone-ravaged Vanuatu, including a one-week-old baby and four foreigners.
The official death toll, issued by the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, is almost certain to rise once the situation becomes clearer on more remote islands in the scattered archipelago.
Some 3,300 residents are known to be sheltering in evacuation centres, the UN said, after their homes were swept away when Cyclone Pam devastated the islands at the weekend.
Estimates by aid agencies put the number of homeless at anything up to half the impoverished Pacific nation’s population of 267,000.
The baby died after winds gusting at up to 190mph tore the roof off the Pakaroa Presbyterian church, in which its parents had taken shelter, said Patrick Sarjinson, a government worker in the capital, Port Vila.
“Just one week old … dead, because the roof is gone,” he said.
Four people, described as non-residents and understood to be foreigners, who were aboard yachts moored in Port Vila harbour, are also among the dead.
The bodies of a middle-aged man and a family of three, including a young child, were retrieved from the harbour, a local woman said.
Up to 100 yachts in the harbour were destroyed or sank when they were smashed against the shore by huge waves.
As officials struggled to get every available plane or helicopter airborne to assess the damage on outlying islands, residents with machetes were chopping away at fallen trees to try to clear the streets of Port Vila.
Others began the huge task of clearing up the debris of their homes, many of which were fragile structures built of iron sheeting.
Women and children were gathering up their families’ wind-blown possessions to see what could be salvaged.
Storm damage to boats caused by Cyclone Pam in Port Vila
Bridges were destroyed in the storm, stretches of road washed away, and most of the islands’ infrastructure lies in ruins.
As relief supplies began to be distributed, aid workers warned that some areas had only a week’s worth of food available, with villagers relying on fruit that had fallen from trees in the storm.
Several islands which exist on subsistence farming are reported to have lost their entire crop and much of the drinking water is contaminated.
Alice Clements of Unicef said she had spoken to a woman who was nine months pregnant and who lost her home.
Six vaccination teams are working in Port Vila as fears grow of a possible measles outbreak.
There had been several cases of the disease before Cyclone Pam arrived, and the plight of thousands sheltering together in close confines could cause the infection to spread, Ms Clements said.
Port Vila’s hospital has been overwhelmed with patients and beds have been moved outside after part of the roof was torn off by the high winds.
Surgeon Richard Leona told Australia’s Channel 7: “The wards have all been evacuated because of structural damage.
“We need to get an urgent drug supply and food, and also set up a mobile hospital to deal with the influx of patients coming in.”
Reports said Port Vila’s morgue had also been damaged.
Up to 90 per cent of buildings in the capital have been either destroyed or damaged, and on the southern island of Tanna even concrete buildings failed to stand up to the Pam’s fury.
Military aircraft taking supplies from Australia and New Zealand returned home carrying shocked tourists out of the shattered country.
In Sydney, Australian Ralph Scott spoke of the terror the cyclone caused.
“I’ve never seen or heard anything like that noise,” he told the AP news agency.
“It was frightening, it was supersonic, it was terrible.”
He said the aftermath was “utter devastation”.
“Houses, roads washed away, people walking around like zombies.”
As international relief efforts gathered pace, reports emerged of damage caused by Pam in other Pacific islands, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.
Meanwhile, in New Zealand’s Chatham Islands, civil defence teams were on standby to assist as residents braced for the arrival of the now ex-tropical cyclone, which is still packing powerful winds.
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