Oxfam has been closely watching Cyclone Pam, which veered off its projected course to hit Vanuatu directly with winds up to 168mph. Now that the storm has passed over the last of the islands in its path, Oxfam and its partners are working quickly to assess damage.
Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collet van Rooyen, said the damage to things as important as the hospital, schools and morgue could create major problems in the coming days that would compound the devastation left by Cyclone Pam. Up to 90 percent of housing in Vanuatu's capital is reported to have been seriously damaged, with still little information from the extremely vulnerable outer islands which are home to 33,000 people.
Collet van Rooyen said immediate priorities in Vanuatu would be to provide temporary toilets, water purification tablets, soap and water containers, especially to those left homeless. He also said that getting children back to school was a huge priority with nearly all schools damaged and school supplies gone.
“With extra help arriving on the Australian Government plane today we now have a team of 10 people working on this emergency response, and there is a lot off work to be done,” he said.
“Port Vila was recently named in the Natural Hazards Risk Atlas and is known as the city most exposed to natural disasters in the world because it faces a combination of risks including earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding and tropical cyclones such as Cyclone Pam,” Mr. Collett van Rooyen said.
While communications are largely down across Vanuatu, Country Director Colin Collett van Rooyen is available for interview. To arrange interviews, please contact Lauren Hartnett at [email protected] or 203-247-3920.
Oxfam led the coordination of the Vanuatu Humanitarian Team, a network of non-government humanitarian agencies, in preparing for the storm, and will also support any response effort, working alongside the Vanuatu Government.
Oxfam has been working on disaster preparedness in Vanuatu for the past four years, at local and national level: funding communities to build cyclone proof classrooms, coordinating the Vanuatu humanitarian team, and working closely with governments and donor agencies to strengthen disaster preparedness across the country.
