Power still out after Cyclone Pam

Vanuatu authorities are trying to get relief to remote islands hard hit by Cyclone Pam as the area struggles without power or phone lines.

Tanna Vanuatu

Lana Silona prepares food with her son Costello in front of their ruined home on the island of Tanna, Vanuatu. (File: AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

Authorities on the Vanuatu island of Tanna, which was hard hit by Cyclone Pam, are attempting to co-ordinate a response to the disaster without power or phones, as locals continue to shelter in emergency accommodation.

The southern islands of Tanna and Erromango bore the full brunt of the category five cyclone when she barrelled over the island group on Friday March 13, causing widespread devastation and destroying entire villages.

In recent days, the UN revised the death toll from the cyclone down to 11 from 24, but it's tipped to rise once rescuers make contact with outlying areas which have lost communications links.

There are also shortages of food and clean water, and logistical challenges in delivering aid.

It could be up to two weeks before the full impact of Pam is known, Vanuatu's Prime Minister Joe Natuman has warned.

On Tanna, the capital of Tafea province, more than 100 locals have been sheltering in a former co-op store on the eastern side of the southern island since Friday.

Those displaced include families, elderly people and even a baby, Angelina Watskall, who was born more than a week ago.

Tanna authorities have been attempting to direct aid without computers, the internet, other communications or power, with all plans and procedures written on large sheets of paper stuck to walls.

Locals are being urging people to boil water before drinking it and are being warned of the dangers of eating rotten fruit, as desperation grows among those impacted.

Authorities on the island are also concerned about the risk of disease as Tanna has no working medical facilities and medicine is scarce.

The disaster has prompted aid workers across Vanuatu to launch an emergency measles vaccination drive for children as the country has low rates of immunisation and already suffered one outbreak of the disease earlier this month.

Meanwhile, remote parts of Tafea province, like the islands of Futuna and Aniwa, are still to make contact with anyone, raising fears about how communities there coped with the cyclone.

The southern side of Tanna is also a black spot, with no assessment teams yet to reach the area.

Many UN and aid group officials arrived on Wednesday morning to help, but say it's almost impossible to direct aid before a full assessment is made.

Some aid packages and Australian Defence Force personnel arrived at Tanna airport on Wednesday and Thursday.


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Source: AAP


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