Eighteen year-old Jordy Didok Iokaim won't soon forget what Cyclone Pam did to his village in the central part of Vanuatu's Tanna Island.
It was one of the areas worst affected by the category-five storm which struck in March 2015.
"We were afraid during the time because this cyclone is not like some of the past cyclones that happen on our island."
He says his house survived, but 20 people from his village of 30 were left homeless.
The cyclone also wiped out food sources, such as home vegetable gardens and animals.
"The people were very hungry, and during that time we find it very hard to find food and water, because the cyclone has been, destroy."
Peter Korisa Pkamil is the Operations Manager of Vanuatu's National Disaster Management Office.
He says Cyclone Pam was so intense it pushed response teams to their limits.
It was more like an eye opener for us. It forces us to really look at how we could strengthen all of us - holistically - from a national level down to a community level.
The National Disaster Management Office is located in the capital Port Vila.
Inside, employees monitor earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes as well as the seasonal threat of cyclones.
Mr Pkamil says systems have been upgraded and procedures improved since Cyclone Pam swept through.
A more robust information management system has been put in place, and new equipment installed with the help of international aid, including from Australia.
Weather forecaster Abel Kalo says he is now able to see satellite updates every ten minutes instead of every hour.
"It's much easier, and with the dissemination of information to the public, it has greatly improved."
Vanuatu's Deputy Prime Minister Joe Natuman says building standards have also been assessed.
"I think some of the things are really, just how we build our houses, so it would be built up better, some of the offices, some of the settlement area, and also people realise some of the locally-made traditional houses are better resistent to cyclone."
Peter Korisa Pkamil from the National Disaster Management Office says Vanuatu is still greatly reliant on the help of larger and better equipped nations during wide-scale disasters.
He says the government only has access to one privately-owned helicopter when disasters hit, and owns just one frigate to reach more than 60 inhabited islands.
"For government, we only have one petrol boat, and this is quite small, so we cannot reach all the islands."
Jordy Didok Iokaim believes people in his village will now be better prepared if a disaster on the scale of Cylone Pam were to hit again.
"During the last cyclone, Cyclone Pam, some of us were ready and some of (were not) ready. So I think that in the future, if we have another cyclone, people in my village will prepare in advance to face it."
The author traveled to Vanuatu with the assistance of International Finance Corporation - a member of the World Bank Group.
