For the first time an intense enormous storm that Global Warming has contributed to devastated an entire island nation. Aid officials expressed shock at the levels of the destruction.
Aid Workers: Vanuatu Faces Lack of Food, Disease Outbreak
Relief workers said Monday the conditions in Vanuatu in the wake of Cyclone Pam are among the worst they have ever seen and the environment is rife for spreading disease.
"I don't think there has ever been destruction on this scale in one place," said Aurelia Balpe, head of the Pacific Office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
VOA spoke with Derek Brien who is in Port Vila, the capital city, where he works for the Pacific Institute of Public Policy. He said, "Everything has been wiped out" and that is "the most frightening thing because most people here rely on their gardens for food."
Cyclone Pam, with winds up to 300 kph, destroyed entire villages, reducing buildings to timbers and tearing off rooftops, downing power lines and toppling trees.
Aid workers said virtually every building not made out of concrete has been flattened.
Ironically Vanuatu's president Baldwin Lonsdale and a delegation of government officials were attending a U.N. conference on disaster risk reduction in Japan when the cyclone struck Vanuatu.
AP Interview: Vanuatu President Rues Cyclone Devastation
Q: What is the situation in Vanuatu now?
A: "Cyclone Pam has devastated Port Vila. More than 90 percent of the buildings and houses in Port Vila have been destroyed or damaged. The state of emergency that has been issued is only for Port Vila. Once we receive an update on the extent of the damage in the provinces then another state of emergency will be issued for the outer islands."
Q: Vanuatu is vulnerable to many disaster risks, including earthquakes, volcanoes, extreme weather and sea level rises due to climate change. Do you see the impact of climate change yourself?
A: "Climate change is contributing to the disasters in Vanuatu. We see the level of sea rise. Change in weather patterns. This year we have heavy rain more than every year."
I witnessed firsthand the devastation left in the wake of the super typhoon that tore a swath through the Philippines in late 2013. It was a harrowing sight to see. Forests with all the limbs ripped off the few trees that managed to remain standing. The debris of peoples homes and lives scattered everywhere in the areas where people had lived.
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