Cyclone Pam: Vanuatu awaits first wave of relief and news from worst-hit islands

Government says there are fears of widespread destruction and heavy loss of life after several islands were directly hit by eye of category five superstorm

Follow all the latest developments

Port Vila residents walk past debris from Cyclone Pam near the waterfront.
Port Vila residents walk past debris from Cyclone Pam near the waterfront. Little is known at this stage about the scale of damage outside the capital. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

The true scale of the disaster in Vanuatu after cyclone Pam has begun to reveal itself as aircraft from Australia arrive to survey the scene and deliver the first wave of urgently needed relief.

The Vanuatu lands minister, Ralph Regenvanu, said the government of the shattered South Pacific archipelago regarded the “entire population” of about 266,000 people as having been affected by the huge category five storm system that ripped through on Friday night and into Saturday.

There were fears of a catastrophic level of destruction and loss of life across the country, with communications outside the capital, Port Vila, still out of commission on Sunday.

Regenvanu played down suggestions by an aid agency that the toll in Port Vila alone could hit 50, saying it was “probably less than 10”, but added: “We don’t know anything about the rest of the country but the cyclone affected all of the country, it started right up in the north and went all the way south,” Regenvanu told the Guardian after an emergency council of ministers meeting.

“This is the worst disaster to affect Vanuatu ever as far as we know. We’re going to need a lot of assistance.”

Care International Vanuatu’s program manager, Charlie Damon, said there were credible sources indicating there could be 40 to 50 deaths in the capital alone.

“We have no idea how the other islands have fared and we can only assume it’s horrific,” Damon said.

Reports of entire villages being wiped out and dozens of deaths in the northern province of Penama cannot be confirmed.

Oxfam Vanuatu’s director, Colin Collett van Rooyen, said estimates of the death toll, which currently stands at eight confirmed in Port Vila, were still limited by poor communications even in the capital.

“At this point I’ve heard what Ralph is saying right now but I stress the numbers are related to access to information,” he said.

“We have to remember at this point in time most people’s mobile batteries would have gone flat, so even comms within Port Vila are very difficult.

“People working on the crisis won’t be having time to drive across Port Vila because there are obstructions on the road as well.”

The government hoped aerial surveys would be carried out with the help of two Australian defence force flights that flew out of Amberley air force base near Brisbane.

It was not clear when satellite imagery from other countries which the United Nations said would help the Vanuatu government map the scale of disaster will be available.

Pinterest
Amateur video reveals damage in Port Vila after cyclone Pam tore through Vanuatu on Saturday.

A private tourist operator, Vanuatu Helicopters, was also set to help with the aerial surveys and the urgent task of re-establishing telecommunications towers on other islands, Regenvanu said.

“Unfortunately we can’t communicate with anyone outside Port Vila so there’s no way to assess what the situation is,” he said.

“We’re hoping the first aerial surveys will be going today.”

Preparing the airport in Port Vila to receive more flights is one of the government’s priorities, with suggestions that commercial flights could be delayed by as much as a week, a major constraint on aid efforts.

Another is restoring the operations of Port Vila’s hospital and possibly establishing mobile clinics amid concerns about contamination of drinking water even though municipal supplies are still running.

Regenvanu said international aid would “hopefully” be rapidly forthcoming.

“We’ll see how fast our partners respond – when they need to respond to this is right now,” he said.

The director of Save the Children Vanuatu, Tom Skirrow, said there was “still a real vacuum of information” from other islands outside the capital.

“What is clear is people are going to be based in evacuation centres in Port Vila and around the country for some time because their houses have been completely destroyed,” Skirrow said.

“I think the key is that people need to get there, they need to be safe, they need to be fed, have their children protected.

“Then they need to start rebuilding homes and the problem is if they rebuild homes like they built before, then they won’t last long again in another cyclone.”

Skirrow said the need for foreign aid was particularly urgent given the local shortage of food and building supplies.

“This place doesn’t have the building materials for the amount of damage that’s been done, it doesn’t have significant amounts of food supplies considering the crop damage,” he said.

Authorities in the capital on Saturday talked of the need to establish more temporary morgues, with the sole morgue in Port Vila able accommodate only two bodies.

Damon said this was as much a reflection of the lack of existing facilities as of fears of the numbers of deaths.

“Of course they’re expecting fatalities - I’ve heard varying reports. Six confirmed yesterday but there are others who have heard more stories so we’re looking at something more like between 40 and 50 in Port Vila alone,” she said.

“But in Vanuatu culture, if someone dies normally you bury them the next day. It’s expatriates who use the morgue here and the morgue they have in place has space for two people.

“Port Vila’s a real mix, we’ve got tourists, we’ve local expatriates and we’ve got the Ni-Vanuatu. There’s a massive expatriate community here, so of those fatalities, I’m not sure how many (of those there are) so that makes a difference to how many they need. (Morgues) are a very western thing.”

In Port Vila, 29 evacuation centres currently held 2,000 people.

Damon said the number was sure to rise as the full scale of damage to private homes was realised.

“We’re looking at what we need to do to make sure those centres were safe,” she said.

Damon said that number would also likely swell as word spread that Vanuatu could be hit later this week by a second tropical cyclone, Nathan, which threatened the north coast of Queensland before changing direction last week.

“As soon as the rumour gets out that there’s going to be another cyclone here, I think given what we’ve just experienced, the numbers in those centres are going to significantly increase,” she said.

“Yesterday (there) was an odd feeling (among people) as we were driving around, absolute shock at the devastation of Port Vila but also a kind of, not elation, but relief that they were alive because they obviously had experienced such a frightening night.”

The clean up in Port Vila, which was undermined on Saturday by still dangerous conditions with wind gusts shifting debris, was aided by clearer weather on Sunday.

“The community yesterday were already cleaning up, cutting away all those trees that have gone down everywhere, which is amazing to see, that resilience,” Damon said. “But as they do that that’s when the reality of what’s just hit kind of kicks in.”

There were signs of immediate improvement in Port Vila’s basic infrastructure with the mobile phone network and parts of the electricity grid reestablished.

But reports estimating some 80% of structures in the capital have suffered damage seemed credible, Damon said.

“It was interesting to see the buildings that don’t have any damage versus those that do, because there’s no rhyme or reason,” Damon said.

“Some, you look at them, and it’s like, you should have been blown away, how are you still standing, and then there are some that have lost their roofs and you just wonder. My friend over from Australia here lost the roof of their house and she lives in a very good house.”