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Cyclone
Pam 'very destructive'
Tropical
Cyclone Pam is currently within 200 kilometres of Vanuatu's capital,
Port Vila, with winds of up to 230 kilometres an hour at its centre.
Radio
NZ,
13
March, 2015
Destructive
winds and very rough seas are forecast for the entire country, along
with torrential rain that is likely to cause flooding and landslides.
Vanuatu
Meteorological Services is forecasting that tiny Erromango Island in
Vanuatu's southern Tafea Province will be the worst hit when the
cyclone arrives tonight.
The
latest warning said very destructive hurricane-force winds of up to
185 kilometres an hour could be expected in Port Vila and wider Shefa
Province starting from about 7pm as the Category 5 system moves past
at about 25 kilometres an our.
It
is then expected to move south to Tafea, which is expected to take a
direct hit late tonight or early tomorrow.
A
red alert is now in place for all six provinces across the country.
Port
Vila - a city of about 40,000 people that sits just above sea level -
has spent today in lockdown in anticipation, with villagers boarding
up windows and putting extra nails into loose roofing and walling.
Schools,
markets and government offices have shut and people are being urged
to move away from rivers and the coast. Residents said the wind had
picked up intensity since 4pm, with trees beginning to be uprooted.
Radio
New Zealand International's correspondent in Port Vila, Hilaire Bule,
said authorities had been evacuating people from coastal settlements
since yesterday.
Tafea
Province councillor Joe Mete, who is on Tanna Island, 140 kilometres
south of Port Vila, said locals were aware of the seriousness of
their situation with the supercyclone approaching, and were doing
their best to prepare for its arrival.
"What
else can we do? It is a natural disaster and this one is very
destructive and very powerful," he said.
"I
think people will just do what they can to protect themselves and the
only thing is people are praying for whatever comes."
Mr
Mete said apart from permanet building structures, there were cave
systems on Tanna and Erremango that people may use to shelter from
the worst of the storm.
Evergreen
Resort manager John Nicholls, also on Tanna Island, has been
preparing for a week and has a concrete bunker to shelter in.
Mr
Nicholls told Checkpoint many of the locals were not so lucky, and
would hide under banyan trees.
He
said there was only one doctor on the island, and if the cyclone hit
with full fury, he expected there would be fatalities.
Relief
agencies gear up
This
morning, National Disaster Management Office acting director Peter
Korisa said officials were setting up evacuation centres and
distributing supplies as the country locked down.
"We
are ordering people - especially from the informal settlements
outside the city - to move into a safe area and good buildings where
they can stay safe from the cyclone.
"Our
job at the moment is trying to arrange the evacuation centres."
Mr
Korisa said the storm began to bear down on Torba late last night,
forcing at least 300 people to evacuate from their homes.
"I
think it's too early to get the impact report or damage report, we
advise them to move to a safer area, a safer house; especially people
living in very vulnerable traditional buildings. They need to find a
good building where they can be safe."
UNICEF
Pacific
Flooding in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Photo: UNICEF Pacific
Boarded up shops in Port Vila.
Photo: Leonard Garae
Mr
Korisa told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme evacuations
from vulnerable areas had begun and about 1000 people had been moved.
The
United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) said the damage was likely to be far wider than the loss of
homes and crops.
Its
head, Sune Gudnitz, said a lot of aid would be needed.
"If
the assumptions come to fruition - which is more than 200,000 people
affected one way or another in Vanuatu alone, that's the planning
figure currently from the Vanuatu side - then, yes, it will be a very
big relief effort," he said.
"We're
talking about a large percentage of the country's population in a
great geographic area that are being affected one way or another."
Shortage
of adequate shelter - UNICEF
A
UNICEF worker said many people in Vanuatu were without proper shelter
as the storm system came loser.
Alice
Clements, who is in Port Vila, said adequate shelter was scarce
because even public buildings were vulnerable, including the
hospital, which floods regularly.
"There's
a problem with the lack of suitable shelters here. So people are
scared and they're not entirely confident, necessarily, that the
shelters that they're in are appropriate to see them through the
storm."
Ms
Clements said Civil Defence was using telephone relays to reach
disaster committees on some of Vanuatu's 83 islands but many phone
lines were down already.
World
Vision evacuated its Port Vila offices early yesterday afternoon and
sent all staff home. The charity's liaison officer in Vanuatu, Chloe
Morrison, told Morning Report there were many vulnerable communities
where people were in insecure housing, and in flood-prone, low-lying
areas.
"The
structures are not safe from flooding let alone a cyclone," she
said.
New
Zealander Jeff Brown moved his family into a motel closer to Port
Vila last night, fearing his home would not withstand the cyclone.
"My
house, I built it myself, I'm not sure that it'll stand the force of
the wind that's going to come so we've moved in to a motel in town
which is a concrete structure backed into a fairly substantial hill
face."
State
of emergency in Tuvalu
A
state of emergency has been declared in Tuvalu after tidal surges
caused by Cyclone Pam to the southwest washed away houses and crops.
A
spokesperson for the Red Cross in Tuvalu, Claire Shave, said the
situation on the outer islands was very bad with a large number of
people affected.
"Some
of the outer islands have had a very bad couple of nights indeed.
They've had water washing away houses, buildings, community halls,
that sort of thing.
"In
addition, because the land is very flat they've had disturbance to
some grave sites which is causing a great deal of distress."
Ms
Shave said the Red Cross had begun its emergency response and was
distributing emergency supplies to those affected.
She
said it was possible international assistance would be requested by
the Tuvalu Government.
Damage
in Solomon Islands
Solomon
Islands is also taking stock of the aftermath of Cyclone Pam with
reports of serious damages in the country's eastern province.
Solomon
Islands National Disaster Management Office Deputy Director Jonathan
Tafiariki said Tikopia Island was one of the worst affected after the
storm system passed directly over it.
"We
have been informed that now the island is more like a desert again,
since they have experienced strong winds since yesterday," he
said.
"So
that means we have all the food gardens and most of the trees have
been blown down."
Mr
Tafiariki said other islands have reported extensive destruction and
damage to houses but so far there had been no loss of life.
He
said initial relief efforts from the National Disaster Management
Office would focus on food, water and medical supplies but ongoing
severe weather conditions were delaying the response.
To
the southeast in Fiji, schools have been ordered to close and the
military has been deployed across the country to help with any
response, while in New Caledonia, people have been advised to prepare
emergency supplies.
Relief agencies gear up
This
morning, National Disaster Management Office acting director Peter
Korisa said officials were setting up evacuation centres and
distributing supplies as the country locked down.
"We
are ordering people - especially from the informal settlements
outside the city - to move into a safe area and good buildings where
they can stay safe from the cyclone.
"Our
job at the moment is trying to arrange the evacuation centres."
Mr
Korisa said the storm began to bear down on Torba late last night,
forcing at least 300 people to evacuate from their homes.
"I
think it's too early to get the impact report or damage report, we
advise them to move to a safer area, a safer house; especially people
living in very vulnerable traditional buildings. They need to find a
good building where they can be safe."
Flooding in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Photo: UNICEF Pacific
Boarded up shops in Port Vila.
Photo: Leonard Garae
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