Save the Children Vanuatu progressing

In the three months since the launch of the response to Cyclone Pam, Save the Children has reached over 45,000 people, including 29,000 children, across 15 islands in Vanuatu.

The affected population has received aid through a mixture of distribution, emergency training and service provision across six sectors: Health, Shelter, Education, Food Security and Livelihood, WASH, Child Protection.

With shelter, food and hygiene the most pressing needs in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, Save the Children worked in partnership with the World Food Programme and the National Disaster Management Office to effect food distributions to the entire populations of Epi, Tongoa, the Shepherd Islands and the outer islands of Efate – almost 23,000 people.

The Shelter team distributed more than 5,000 tarpaulins and 600 toolkits to provide almost 20,000 people with emergency shelter, while WASH items such as buckets, water purifying tablets and hygiene kits have helped almost 11,000 people. In addition, Save the Children has to date repaired the water systems in nine communities, providing 1,900 people with access to safe water.

The Education and Child Protection teams worked directly with communities, providing materials and training to help them establish over 70 Child Friendly Spaces and Temporary Learning Spaces, giving children a fun and safe environment and enabling them to resume their education as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the Health team has worked to repair and restock 79 Aid Posts and train Village Health Workers, providing an essential primary healthcare service in remote communities.

Three months on, Save the Children’s focus is shifting to helping communities recover their livelihoods and rebuild more permanent structures. Through a mixture of cash grants and building materials, Save the Children will continue to work directly with the affected population to help rebuild houses and schools, community centres and markets, repair water systems and replant crops for cash and sustenance. In addition, long-term development projects are already recommencing. Save the Children is committed to helping Vanuatu emerge from Cyclone Pam even better than before.

Author: 
jwaeda