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A ShelterBox response team is being mobilised to travel to Vanuatu after the South Pacific country was hit by Cyclone Pam on Saturday. The strength of the category five storm, with winds reaching almost 200 miles per hour, has been compared to that of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated large parts of the Philippines in 2013.
Vanuatu, one of the world’s poorest nations, is made up of a sprawling cluster of more than 80 islands. The country, which is situated around 1,000 miles east of northern Australia, sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and suffers from frequent earthquakes, tsunamis and active volcanoes as well as severe storms and rising sea levels.
While there is a communications blackout in most of Vanuatu, reports suggest that more than a quarter of a million people could now be homeless as a result of the cyclone and that up to 90% of structures have been destroyed or damaged. Thousands of people are now sheltering in evacuation centres in the provinces of Efate, Torba and Penama.
Many of the country’s essential services, including schools, hospitals and power, are in disarray and Vanuatu’s president Baldwin Lonsdale has said that the country is in ‘immediate need’ as the storm has ‘wiped out’ all development of recent years.
ShelterBox has agreed to work with fellow aid organisation CARE International to distribute 1,000 shelter kits to people affected by the cyclone. The kits, which are designed to Red Cross specifications, can be used to repair and waterproof damaged buildings as well as to make emergency shelters.
The kits will be dispatched from prepositioned stocks in Subang Airport, near Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. Having prepositioned aid means that we are better prepared for disasters and can reach the people who need it as soon as possible.
Alf Evans, ShelterBox Operational Manager, said: ‘We have been in frequent touch with other aid agencies, making clear our willingness and capability to help. Our initial response will see the 1,000 shelter kits deployed from Subang, and distributed with CARE International. Once we have ShelterBox response team members on the ground we will be aiming to make further contributions to partnership work on shelter and repair.’
A ShelterBox response team, made up of volunteers Peter Pearce (AUS) and Ross MacKenzie (NZ), will be heading to Vanuatu within the next few days to make preparations for ShelterBox aid distribution.
At least eight other nations apart from Vanuatu have experienced some level of impact from Cyclone Pam, including the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, Tuvalu and Papua New Guinea. Officials have yet to assess the damage in many of these outlying areas due to lack of communications and power.
Cyclone Pam has now headed south, hitting New Zealand. Though it has weakened in strength, states of emergency have already been declared, and people have been evacuated, in several areas of the country.
