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| Cyclone Hits Island Nation of Vanuatu and Kills 6 | Cyclone Hits Island Nation of Vanuatu and Kills 6 |
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| HONG KONG — A cyclone mauled the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on Saturday, killing at least six people, tearing apart many homes and leaving residents to fear even worse death and destruction on remoter parts of the archipelago that remained out of contact. | |
| Tropical Cyclone Pam has left a path of damage across the Pacific Ocean, and it bore down on the islands of Vanuatu from late on Friday with winds of around 160 miles an hour, according to the Vanuatu meteorological service. Residents endured a night of roaring winds, and several in the capital, Port-Vila, said it was the most ferocious cyclone they could remember. | |
| “It’s like a bomb has gone off in the center of the town,” said Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Children’s Fund, or Unicef, in Port-Vila, according to the agency. Unicef said that at least six people had been killed. “This will most certainly be a catastrophe for the people of Vanuatu,” Ms. Clements said. | |
| The cyclone continued to churn across the islands on Saturday, uprooting trees and badly damaging many homes, even in Port-Vila, where the housing is more solid than other parts. | |
| “Around here, I would say 90 percent of houses have been damaged,” Isaac Savuah, a field officer for CARE International, an aid organization, said in a telephone interview from Port-Vila. The two dozen or so schools and other larger buildings used as evacuation shelters in the capital would not be enough for those without safe homes, he said. | |
| “I’ve seen people wandering around out in the open,” said Mr. Savuah. “Roofs have been torn off, trees down everywhere, there’s flooding, food gardens have been destroyed.” | “I’ve seen people wandering around out in the open,” said Mr. Savuah. “Roofs have been torn off, trees down everywhere, there’s flooding, food gardens have been destroyed.” |
| Emergency relief workers said they feared that the death toll could rise sharply if it turns out that far-flung parts of the island chain suffered worse devastation. Vanuatu has a population of 270,000, and about 50,000 live in Port-Vila. But the archipelago of some 80 islands also has many remote towns on 65 inhabited islands, and the destruction of power and communications lines means there has been little contact with some communities. | |
| “For some of the most remote island villages it could takes days or even weeks to reach them by boat to see the full extent of the damage,” Chloe Morrison, a spokeswoman for World Vision, a humanitarian group focused on helping children, said in an email from Vanuatu. “Local homes here are quite simple, usually thatched roofs, and they’d likely be absolutely blown away by the winds,” she said. | “For some of the most remote island villages it could takes days or even weeks to reach them by boat to see the full extent of the damage,” Chloe Morrison, a spokeswoman for World Vision, a humanitarian group focused on helping children, said in an email from Vanuatu. “Local homes here are quite simple, usually thatched roofs, and they’d likely be absolutely blown away by the winds,” she said. |
| Adding to the difficulties, the country’s main airport, Bauerfield International Airport, could be shut to regular flights for weeks because of flooding and damage, reported the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Vanuatu is more than 1,500 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia, and many of the island’s goods must be shipped or flown in. | Adding to the difficulties, the country’s main airport, Bauerfield International Airport, could be shut to regular flights for weeks because of flooding and damage, reported the Australian Broadcasting Commission. Vanuatu is more than 1,500 miles northeast of Sydney, Australia, and many of the island’s goods must be shipped or flown in. |
| “Ensuring safe drinking water, sufficient nourishment, especially for mothers and babies, will be a priority,” Mark le Roux, the Vanuatu country director for ADRA, also called the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, said in a telephone interview. | “Ensuring safe drinking water, sufficient nourishment, especially for mothers and babies, will be a priority,” Mark le Roux, the Vanuatu country director for ADRA, also called the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, said in a telephone interview. |
| Winds from the cyclone also pummeled other Pacific island countries, including Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati. “We have to remember that the destruction wasn’t limited to Vanuatu,” Aurélia Balpe, the Pacific regional office director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a telephone interview from Fiji. “There’s been a trail of destruction.” | Winds from the cyclone also pummeled other Pacific island countries, including Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati. “We have to remember that the destruction wasn’t limited to Vanuatu,” Aurélia Balpe, the Pacific regional office director for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said in a telephone interview from Fiji. “There’s been a trail of destruction.” |