Vanuatu suffering continues one year on from Cyclone Pam

There is a real need to remedy the suffering of Vanuatu communities almost one year on from Cyclone Pam, write Dr Bryan Hall and Tali Ezekiel.

The deprivation hits you as soon as you see it. Roofs are missing, the water supply is not functioning, food is sparse. Debris remains, twisted and mangled on the ground and up in trees. And after a while, you get used to the fact that  tents and tarps will have to stand against the elements for years.

This isn't some far away land we're writing about. It's Vanuatu – a Pacific neighbour closer to Sydney than Perth, and a popular tourist destination.

Many communities in Vanuatu have been unable to recover almost a year after Cyclone Pam caused widespread destruction in ...
Many communities in Vanuatu have been unable to recover almost a year after Cyclone Pam caused widespread destruction in March 2015. Photo: Handout

Almost one year on since the Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Pam ran straight over the top of Vanuatu on March 6, 2015, many of the worst affected areas remain hapless, voiceless, ignored.

It is estimated that 80 to 90 per cent of structures and buildings were damaged or destroyed and 75,000 residents  needed emergency shelter when those record-breaking winds smashed through Vanuatu.

Our return trip this month, almost a year on from the devastation, was an eye-opening experience. So much work still needs to be done. Infrastructure in the country is becoming dilapidated and the grip of the present El Nino  weather pattern on the island paradise is being described as the second natural disaster.

Now, in what represents another blow to the marginal economy, major carriers Qantas and Air New Zealand have cancelled their code shares with Air Vanuatu because of safety concerns about the runway at Port Vila's airport. Having done aid work with Byond​ Disaster Relief, focusing on re-installing water supply to suitable sites, we were fortunate enough to return home just a few days before that announcement. Nevertheless, the longer these natural and man-made disasters drag on, the bigger the impacts will be on a nation still reeling and desperately needing help for its recovery.


While on the road assessing locations suitable for new tanks to be installed, we travelled 40 minutes south and then east of Port Vila to a small community called Forari. The town was about  four kilometres inland, accessed by  a dirt road overgrown with  grass that in places almost swallowed our car. Just off the main road, out of the way, lacking a beachfront, they are an example of the voiceless. It's a community that at one time welcomed tourists with local culture and customs, bush rope birds, turtles, relics, refreshments and demonstrations. Their collective business, homes and school were almost completely destroyed and could not be rebuilt where they had stood . Shelter is now the remnant shells of a failed magnesium mine long since abandoned.

Forari isn't the scene of a crime, an act of war, nor even the immediate aftermath of a disaster; but it nonetheless looks like an apocalyptic movie set. Concrete shells of buildings suffice as living quarters. Roofs and other structures have long succumbed to the elements. Dwellings feature cardboard box flooring, discarded plywood, rusted corrugated iron and discarded timbers held together with short strands of twisted wire.

Upon our arrival, the first person to greet us was a lady who could see us contemplating the desperate need to bring a water tank back to life.  It could not be fixed for lack of basic materials, and on top of that people's lives are bogged down with no electricity, inadequate sanitation and very poor shelter. For a few dollars' worth of materials, we were able to secure a small water supply to the tank, but water supply remains fraught.

During the course of our visit we were stunned when we were told we were the first aid workers to arrive to help them since the cyclone. Aid organisations were inundated with urgent requests throughout the country after the cyclone; this example highlights, however, how entire communities slipped  through the net.

There is a real need to remedy the urgent needs on our doorstep almost one year on from Cyclone Pam. The elections in Vanuatu, following the recent dissolution of the national Parliament, coincide with collapsing social infrastructure and Vanuatu losing its voting rights at the United Nations. The people of the Pacific, our neighbours in Vanuatu, deserve solutions no more or less than we do. And now they're even more isolated than when we visited them just one week ago.

There are still means to assist. Port Vila is a popular tourist destination with about 300 boats, including cruise liners, docking there each year and other routes remain open. Money isn't just in need; basic things we take for granted, from medical supplies, to clothes, to school equipment are in great shortage.

For more information on how to donate materials, money or expertise towards disaster relief in Vanuatu please contact