Relief workers reach hard-hit Vanuatu islands
Relief workers reach hard-hit Vanuatu islands, Relief workers on Tuesday reached some previously inaccessible areas of the cyclone-ravaged South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
Colin Collett van Rooyen, from the aid group Oxfam said that teams of aid workers and government officials with medical and sanitation supplies, water, food and shelter equipment landed on Tanna and neighboring Erromango Island on Tuesday afternoon, which were directly in Cyclone Pam's the path, the Associated Press reported.
Radio and telephone communications with the hard-hit outer islands were just beginning to be restored four days after the storm hit, but remained very patchy, according to the news agency.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 11 people were confirmed dead, revising its earlier report of 24 deaths after some people were counted more than once. Thousands of people have been left homeless.
Australia's government has stepped up relief to the country, with search-and-rescue and medical personnel due to arrive in the capital Port Vila on Tuesday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said military planes spotted widespread devastation after surveying almost all of Vanuatu, according to the paper.
Bishop said that the country's air force was trying to land planes on some of the more remote islands, the Herald said.
"Some have functioning airstrips, others not so," she added.Vanuatu warned it faces imminent food shortages, the AFP news agency reported.
Benjamin Shing, from President Baldwin Lonsdale's office, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "The first week we are relying on the fact that the food crops and the gardens are still edible and they can be used for the first week, but after the first week we'll need to get some rations on the ground," according to the agency.
Shops selling tinned food were open in Port Vila, but most residents cannot afford them and many were said to be scavenging for bananas or fruit, the Herald reported.Tom Perry, spokesman for CARE Australia, told the AP that the devastation on Tanna island was significantly worse than in Port Vila, where 90% of buildings were damaged or destroyed.
"The airport was badly damaged, the hospital was badly damaged but still functioning ... there's one doctor there at the moment," he said. "It's obviously a pretty trying situation."
Vanuatu's population of 267,000 is spread over a string of 65 islands located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii. About 47,000 people live in Port Vila.
At its peak, Pam's 165 mph winds made it one of only ten Category 5 storms on record in the waters east of Australia, according to the Weather Underground. It's also only the second Cat 5 in recorded history to make landfall on a populated island in that area.
The tiny 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.
Colin Collett van Rooyen, from the aid group Oxfam said that teams of aid workers and government officials with medical and sanitation supplies, water, food and shelter equipment landed on Tanna and neighboring Erromango Island on Tuesday afternoon, which were directly in Cyclone Pam's the path, the Associated Press reported.
Radio and telephone communications with the hard-hit outer islands were just beginning to be restored four days after the storm hit, but remained very patchy, according to the news agency.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 11 people were confirmed dead, revising its earlier report of 24 deaths after some people were counted more than once. Thousands of people have been left homeless.
Australia's government has stepped up relief to the country, with search-and-rescue and medical personnel due to arrive in the capital Port Vila on Tuesday, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said military planes spotted widespread devastation after surveying almost all of Vanuatu, according to the paper.
Bishop said that the country's air force was trying to land planes on some of the more remote islands, the Herald said.
"Some have functioning airstrips, others not so," she added.Vanuatu warned it faces imminent food shortages, the AFP news agency reported.
Benjamin Shing, from President Baldwin Lonsdale's office, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: "The first week we are relying on the fact that the food crops and the gardens are still edible and they can be used for the first week, but after the first week we'll need to get some rations on the ground," according to the agency.
Shops selling tinned food were open in Port Vila, but most residents cannot afford them and many were said to be scavenging for bananas or fruit, the Herald reported.Tom Perry, spokesman for CARE Australia, told the AP that the devastation on Tanna island was significantly worse than in Port Vila, where 90% of buildings were damaged or destroyed.
"The airport was badly damaged, the hospital was badly damaged but still functioning ... there's one doctor there at the moment," he said. "It's obviously a pretty trying situation."
Vanuatu's population of 267,000 is spread over a string of 65 islands located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii. About 47,000 people live in Port Vila.
At its peak, Pam's 165 mph winds made it one of only ten Category 5 storms on record in the waters east of Australia, according to the Weather Underground. It's also only the second Cat 5 in recorded history to make landfall on a populated island in that area.
The tiny 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.