U.N.: 24 dead, 3,300 displaced in Vanuatu after a tropical cyclone devastates the islands - The Washington Post

At least 24 people are dead and 3,300 have been displaced in the cyclone-ravaged country of Vanuatu, the United Nations humanitarian office announced on Monday.

U.N. officials arrived in the island nation on Monday, three days after it was struck by a tropical Category 5 cyclone. Vanuatu’s president, Baldwin Lonsdale, asked for “immediate” international aid as the South Pacific country attempts to recover. “This is a very devastating cyclone in Vanuatu. I term it as a monster, a monster,” Lonsdale told the Associated Press.

The death toll could rise over the next few days as humanitarian groups continue to assess the damage, which is extensive. “Tropical Cyclone Pam is likely to be the worst natural disaster the South Pacific has seen,” the U.N. humanitarian office said Sunday.

Three islands were hit particularly hard by the cyclone, which struck late Friday and had wind gusts of up to 200 mph at its peak: Efate, where Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila is located; Erromango; and Tanna. Lonsdale estimated to the AP that “more than 90 percent of the buildings and houses in Port Vila have been destroyed or damaged.”

Vanuatu's president says some 90 percent of the buildings in the capital sit damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Pam. (AP)

Aerial assessments found “severe and widespread damage,” the United Nations reported. The outer islands haven’t yet restored radio and telephone communication with the center of the country, where the United Nations is focusing its initial response.

And according to Reuters, the Australian Red Cross has reports of “total devastation” on Tanna, in the south. As of Monday, the U.N. death toll included five dead from Tanna, 11 from Tafea and eight from Efate.

The World Health Organization said Monday it is dispatching personnel and supplies to Vanuatu. “WHO is also communicating with the governments of Australia and New Zealand, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other organizations, to ensure Vanuatu gets the right resources to meet their health needs,” the WHO said in a statement. Before the cyclone struck, the public health agency was working with Vanuatu’s Ministry of Health on a meals immunization campaign.

“We are working closely with our partners to get the people of Vanuatu what they need as quickly as possible to respond to this devastating cyclone,” said Shin Young-soo, the WHO’s regional director for the Western Pacific. “We have activated our emergency operations center and put a support team in place to assess needs and deploy critical resources to help in the response.”

Jacqueline de Gaillarde, chief execution of Red Cross Vanuatu, told Reuters that disease (including dengue fever and malaria) and food shortages are a major and immediate concern. Residents, she told Reuters, had stockpiled food ahead of the storm, then lost their supplies when their homes were destroyed.

“We need food for the coming weeks, and we need humanitarian people to do assessments, and we need transport,” she said. “We need boats to access the islands because lots of the airports on the islands are grass only, and they are flooded so we cannot land.”

More from Reuters:

Perched on the geologically active Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world’s poorest nations suffers from frequent earthquakes and tsunamis and has several active volcanoes, in addition to threats from storms and rising sea levels.

President Lonsdale, who had been in Japan for a U.N. disaster conference when the storm hit, said it would take time for his country to recover.

“What is happening now is that, as I’ve seen over and over again, the people of the Republic of Vanuatu need humanitarian assistance at the moment,” he said. “And I’m very pleased with the international community that they have responded to my appeal.”

Aid officials said the storm was comparable in strength to Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013 and killed more than 6,000 people.

Lonsdale said climate change was to blame for the disasters in his country.

Abby Ohlheiser is a general assignment reporter for The Washington Post.