NZ Freephone Fresh water! (Photo: Act for Peace)
Thanks for working together to help ni-Vanuatu. One year on, ACT Alliance reports back:
Tropical Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu on 13/14 March. A category 5 storm with wind gusts topping 300 kim an hour caused major damage across the country. 11 people have been confirmed dead and 15,000 homes destroyed or damagaed. Schools, clinics, churches and crops have been damaged or destroyed on 22 islands.
The Vanuatu Government is asking for food and other relief for 166,000 affected people. At least 80% of rural people have lost the crops on which they depend for survival. They will not be able to harvest new crops until mid-June at the earliest and will need food aid to survive. For example Mataso Island of the Shepherd group has no shelter or tree cover left. The Government has begun distributing relief by air and ship. Communication has yet to be established with outlying islands. All islands lack proper water supply and there are health issues from injuries and infections. Around 110,000 people need safe water and 75,000 need shelter. Please donate now so we can help the people recover.
CWS Response
CWS is working with NZ churches, Australian partners and Vanuatu churches to respond. ACT Alliance has issued an initial appeal for US $548,000 to provide: food, water, sanitation, hygiene kits, non-food items and water tanks, solar power, seeds, farm tools, medical care, health education, literacy and further disaster preparedness measures as well as rebuilding schools and health clinics. The programme will assist people on the Shepherd Islands, Tanna, Erromango, Pentecost, Ambae, Santo, Sanma, Penama, Efate, Epi, Paama, Sola in the coming year.
Reports
11 May 2015
Act for Peace and the Vanuatu Christian Council report two months on they have distributed and/or supported locals to establish:
- food and water to 14 communities on Tongoa Island and in many of church evacuation centres in Efate
- water and purification tablets to smaller islands in Shepherd Group and Mataso Island
- 25 water purifcation kits to schools and community posts across Tongoa Island and on Mataso Island
- replaced damaged pipes, pumps, taps for rainwater harvesting on 4 communities on Tongoa
- replacement iron sheeting for 3 new community shelters and water tanks on Baiap
- 2,000 personal hygiene kits on Tongoa and Epi Islands
- 680 tarpaulins on Efate, Epi. Ambrym and the Shepherd group
- government supplied seeds and training across Tongoa and Erromango
- seeds and seedlings for more than 70 home gardens on Baiap
- community nursery at Tongoa’s secondary school and training for students and parents
- talipia breeding programme trial
- 2500 kilograms of clothes through women’s and youth groups
- fencing equipment and chainsaws for 14 communities on Tongoa to protect gardens from livestock with 2 more on track.
- fenced community nursery, equipment, training and 10kg seeds for Port Navarin, Erromango
- fenced urban garden with greenhouse, equipment and seeds in association with Oxfam at Port Vila
- an independent assessment of repair needs of more than 47 church evacuation centres
(Photo: Act for Peace/J Loersch)
19 March 2015
Geoff Robinson reports to ACT Alliance on the situation.
18 March 2015
On arriving in Vanuatu Geoff Robinson from ACT for Peace Australia reports: ‘Damage and destruction, everywhere you look there is mess. Houses torn apart, vegetation and building materials strewn everywhere, big trees snapped like twigs, toppled over and flung, completely stripped of leaves.’
One man saw two people die before his eyes on Tanna: ‘During the height of the cyclone, an older woman and a teenager were killed by flying sheets of iron as they ran to a building after their house was torn apart.’
Crops uprooted by the storm will only last another week. The people will need more food aid in coming weeks and months. Rebuilding homes, replanting crops and restoring farmlands will take longer. On 18 March agriculture minister Hon David Tosul asks for more relief, saying food will run out in days.
