A MONTH after tropical cyclone Pam tore through Vanuatu life there is slowly returning to normal, according to a former Derrinallum woman living and working in the island nation.
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Chloe Morrison was in the nation’s capital Port Vila working for humanitarian organisation World Vision when the category five storm tore through on March 6, leaving a trail of devastation.
Sixteen people were killed and villages and towns flattened as winds of up to 250 kilometres an hour swept through leaving 75,000 people in need of emergency accommodation and destroying 96 per cent of food crops.
Ms Morrison told The Standard things were far more positive than when reports filtered out of the island in the immediate aftermath of the storm, but there was much work still to do.
Ms Morrison, who has spent the past month visiting remote islands helping assess the needs of locals, said rain now falling in the area was a “double-edged sword”.
“The people need the rain to help regrow their gardens so they have access to food and income,” she said.
“But there are still people without shelter, so the rain isn’t helping in that sense. But overall things are looking positive. The rebuilding process has begun and the first cruise ship since the cyclone docked this week.”
Ms Morrison said World Vision had 80 staff in Vanuatu, with many working on remote islands. She said in the initial days they had lost contact with staff and it was too dangerous to travel.
“The staff lost their homes, but they were still out working 12-15 hour days helping the locals,” she said.
“It was very confronting to see people who had lost absolutely everything, all they have is their house and garden, but after the initial shock they set about cleaning up and rebuilding.”
Ms Morrison said the focus now was on ensuring people had access to food and clean water. She said the long-term goal was to ensure locals get the help they need to complete their recovery from Pam’s devastation.
“Massive-scale disasters like this require long-term efforts, so the struggle will be to keep the momentum going and ensure the people most in need continue to get assistance through aid,” she said.
“While life in paradise has changed for now, I have no doubt that with the support shown from the global community and resilience of the Vanuatu people it will be paradise once more.”