[This post has been updated.]
The news is devastating from the tiny island nation of Vanuatu.
Cyclone Pam, possibly the worst cyclone in the Pacific's history, slammed directly into the tiny South Pacific archipelago Vanuatu early Saturday, killing at least eight people and leaving thousands homeless, according to reports from aid organizations.
The sheer size of the devastation is only beginning to trickle out because almost all power and communications have been cut to much of Vanuatu, a string of 65 islands located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii.
The damage from the Category 5 storm, whose size drastically exceeded expectations, is being characterized by various media as absolutely devastating, with storm surges of 26 feet flooding through the capital. The death toll
is expected to rise dramatically, with unconfirmed reports of casualties coming in now from remote areas of the multi-island nation. Rachel Maddow
notes that the wind speeds were 174 mph prior to landfall.
Vanuatu's President, Baldwin Lonsdale, has appealed for help from the international community, as residents are spending a second night in emergency shelters, after finding their homes had been destroyed. A field officer for CARE International said that 90 percent of the homes in the capital city of Port Vila had been damaged or destroyed.
(CNN)Relief workers reported "unbelievable destruction" after Tropical Cyclone Pam smashed the capital of Vanuatu, the Australian Red Cross said Saturday.
The Australian Red Cross said via Twitter that "humanitarian needs will be enormous. Many people have lost their homes. Shelter, food and water (are) urgent priorities" in Port Vila.
Of
particular concern are the 33,000 people who live in the nation's southern islands, from whom all communication has been severed.
“While it is too early to say for certain, early reports are indicating that this weather disaster could potentially be one of the worst in Pacific history,” UNICEF New Zealand’s executive director Vivien Maidaborn said in a statement.
“The sheer force of the storm combined with communities just not set up to withstand it, could have devastating results for thousands across the region.”
* * *
“We are starting to get a picture from Port Vila, but there’s nothing from the south,” [Aurelia Balpe, head of the Pacific regional office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)]told AFP from Suva.
“We are very worried just because there are less permanent structures in that part of the country. There’s probably less infrastructure to be evacuated to, it’s a less developed part of the country.”
Updated video with satellite view of the storm, local film and CNN clip:
Further video newly broadcast from the islands:
From New Zealand's ONE news:
New Zealander Malcolm Whitlock is hoping the New Zealand Government will help them evacuate from Vanuatu. He came close to losing his life, his home completely destroyed around him.
"It's just absolutely devastating. It looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off. We are hoping aid arrives and I know the expats I'm with, we just want out," he says
An aid agency manager says homes were blown to pieces, evacuation centres flooded and numerous people injured as Cyclone Pam devastated parts of Vanuatu. As humanitarian agency workers make their way to the outskirts of the capital Port Vila, it's clear that the cyclone has hit Vanuatu with devastating force.
Care International program manager Charlie Damon says from Port Villa: "If this is the level of impact in communities where emergency shelters were an option, we are deeply concerned about what has happened in remote communities without them."
Morrison says the deadly storm has wrought catastrophic damage.
She spent a terrifying night bunkered down in a house in Port Vila with her co-workers.
"There are reports from our other colleagues of entire villages being literally blown away overnight," she told AAP. "Local houses and leaf huts would have been picked up like confetti last night."
Vanuatu is a archipelago in the South Pacific with a population of 267,000. 47,000 of those live in the nation's capital of Port Vila.
Vanuatu's total area is roughly 12,274 square kilometres (4,739 sq mi),[17] of which its land surface is very limited (roughly 4,700 square kilometres (1,800 sq mi)). Most of the islands are steep, with unstable soils and little permanent fresh water.[15] One estimate, made in 2005, is that only 9% of land is used for agriculture (7% with permanent crops, plus 2% considered arable).[18] The shoreline is mostly rocky with fringing reefs and no continental shelf, dropping rapidly into the ocean depths.[15]
The country is among the poorest in the world. Formerly ruled jointly by Britain and France, the island achieved independence in 1980. The topography of the island has seen considerable spoilage at the hands of its subsistence farmer inhabitants, which may not serve it well in this disaster:
Vanuatu's population (estimated in 2008 as growing 2.4% annually)[20] is placing increasing pressure on land and resources for agriculture, grazing, hunting, and fishing.[15] Some 90% of Vanuatu households fish and consume fish, which has caused intense fishing pressure near villages and the depletion of near-shore fish species.[15] While well-vegetated, most islands show signs of deforestation.[15] The islands have been logged, particularly of high-value timber, subjected to wide-scale slash-and-burn agriculture, and converted to coconut plantations and cattle ranches, and now show evidence of increased soil erosion and landslides.[15]
Many upland watersheds are being deforested and degraded, and fresh water is becoming increasingly scarce.[15] Proper waste disposal, as well as water and air pollution, are becoming troublesome issues around urban areas and large villages.[15] Additionally, the lack of employment opportunities in industry and inaccessibility to markets have combined to lock rural families into a subsistence or self-reliance mode, putting tremendous pressure on local ecosystems.[15]
As a result of these changes to the land, Vanuatu, like other islands in the Pacific is particularly susceptible to rising seas and
irregular weather patterns caused
by climate change.
The tiny Pacific island nation has repeatedly warned it is already suffering devastating effects from climate change with the island's coastal areas being washed away, forcing resettlement to higher ground and smaller yields on traditional crops.
Vanuatu is not the first Pacific island nation to experience the wrath of an altered climate.
The Pacific region has been one of the areas most affected by changes in global temperatures in recent years. In 2013, countries in the Pacific Basin recorded the highest increases in sea levels in the world, according to a report by The Christian Science Monitor, based on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Last September, the president of the Marshall Islands, a tiny archipelago near the equator, called on world leaders to act on climate change as the country’s atolls become increasingly unlivable due to rising seas, severe floods, sudden storms, and droughts, The Guardian reported.
“The Pacific is fighting for its survival,” President Christopher Loek said. “Climate change has already arrived."
Countries in and around the Pacific, including China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Australia, have also experienced the most tropical cyclone strikes since 1970, the same Monitor report found.
Many of the articles linked above, though referencing climate change, contain the disclaimer that scientists are unable to attribute specific weather events such as this Cyclone to human activity. Of the five typhoons that have impacted the most people in the Phillippines, however, four have occurred in the last ten years, the worst being the most recent, Typhoon Haiyan which killed 6000 people in 2013.
To contribute to the relief efforts:
CNN has a good link to the groups that will be participating in the relief effort once it is safe to do so.
See also:
https://www.savethechildren.org.au/...
https://www.oxfam.org.au/