WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Aid workers say eight people are confirmed dead in Vanuatu after a massive cyclone tore through the tiny South Pacific archipelago, and the death toll is expected to rise much higher.
Chloe Morrison, a World Vision emergency communications officer in Port Vila, said on Sunday that officials from Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office confirmed to her agency that eight people in and around the capital had died during the cyclone.
She says officials haven’t been able to assess the damage in many of the hard-hit outer islands where communications remain down.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says there are unconfirmed reports of at least 44 deaths in Vanuatu’s northeastern islands.
Residents in the Cyclone Pam-ravaged Vanuatu hunkered in emergency shelters for a second straight night Saturday after venturing out to find their homes damaged or blown away by the powerful storm, aid workers said.
Packing winds of 168 miles per hour, Cyclone Pam tore through the tiny South Pacific archipelago early Saturday, leaving a trail of destruction and unconfirmed reports of dozens of deaths.
Power remained out across Vanuatu on Sunday, and people on many of the outer islands had no access to running water or outside communications, Morrison said.
She said communications have been so problematic that her aid group hasn’t yet been able to account for many of its own 76 staff on the islands, and authorities have been unable to assess the extent of the damage.
“I can say that for anybody who wasn’t in a secure shelter last night, it would have been a very, very tough time for them,” she said.
Vanuatu has a population of 267,000 spread over 65 islands. About 47,000 people live in the capital.
Morrison said authorities did a good job Friday moving thousands of people in Port Vila into 23 evacuation centers. With the winds and rain easing Saturday, many people stepped out only to find that their homes were missing a roof or had disappeared and were forced to return to the shelters.
Teetering trees and downed power lines in Port Vila have made many areas hazardous, Morrison said, adding that she had heard reports of entire villages being destroyed in more remote areas.
“It’s still really quite dangerous outside. Most people are still hunkering down,” she said.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the impact and scope of the disaster caused by the cyclone wasn’t yet clear, but he feared the damage and destruction could be widespread.
“We hope the loss of life will be minimal,” Ban said during the World Conference on Disaster Risk and Reduction in Japan. The UN said it was preparing to deploy emergency rapid-response units.
The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, who was attending the conference, told participants, “I do not really know what impact the cyclone has had on Vanuatu.
“I am speaking to you today with a heart that is so heavy,” he said. “I stand to appeal on behalf of the government and the people to give a helping hand in this disaster.”
Morrison said the first priority was to ensure people had adequate food, drinking water and shelter. Beyond that, she said, there would need to be a long and concerted rebuilding effort in the months ahead.
The small island nation, located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii, 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.
