Cyclone Pam

Farming recovers in Vanuatu

Acting Director for Agriculture, Mark Vurobaravu said this week, communities that were destroyed heavily by the natural disaster are back to their subsistence life.

Vurobaravu said people have restocked seeds and planting materials of food crops and re-built their gardens. 

They planted planting materials that were destroyed, he said, and they did that soon after the event, well before they dried up.

However he also revealed that the current El Nino has disturbed a lot of work put into the recovery initiatives.

Disaster trauma on agenda at Pacific health summit

The Pasifika Medical Association conference was officially opened today in Port Vila by the president of Vanuatu, Father Baldwin Lonsdale.

The president of PMA, Kiki Maoate, says many people were affected psychologically by Cyclone Pam, and the mental recovery process is ongoing.

Dr Maoate says the conference will allow participants to share their experiences on dealing with mental health issues.

Niue provides foreign aid to Tuvalu

The Premier Toke Talagi handed over a cheque for US$6,300 to his Tuvalu counterpart, Enele Sopoaga, during the recent Pacific Forum summit.

Niue has very close links with Tuvalu, with a number of Tuvalu nationals living on the island.

Cyclone recovery in the Pacific

One senior business executive was at Auckland Airport on his way to the World Conference – preparing to advocate the merits of disaster resilience to his fellow executives – when news of the disaster prompted him to ditch his talking points, switch his ticket, and dash to guide his company’s recovery on the ground in Vanuatu.

Within 48 hours, instead of speaking to delegates in Sendai, the Chairman of the Board of Directors Digicel Samoa, Pepe Christian Fruean, was in Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila as part of the telecommunications company’s emergency deployment.

World Bank commits 3 million to Tuvalu recovery

Six months after Cyclone Pam hit the Pacific, the bank approved the additional grant to support Tuvalu's medium-term recovery efforts.

Almost half of Tuvalu's 10,000 people were affected by the category 5 cyclone, which caused massive destruction as it passed in March, before continuing southwest to Vanuatu.

The system caused an estimated 10 million dollars worth of damages or more than 30 percent of the country's GDP.

Evacuees moved from CNMI shelters as schools reopen

The Northern Marianas College says there are 18 buildings in different phases of disrepair.

The college president, Dr Sharon Hart, says of the buildings that sustained damage, about four are inoperable, including the gym, which sustained damage to its roof and floor.

However, the College's director of external relations, Frankie Eliptico, says most of the classrooms were spared, and there's a huge effort by staff to return things to normal.

ACP–EU endorse resolution on natural disasters in Vanuatu

ACP – EU Co- Presidents, Louis Michel said the assembly expressed solidarity for the people affected during cyclone Pam and called on the international community to continue its support in the rebuilding process.

They say ACP and EU countries must ensure that the post-2015 development agenda takes account of the needs of ACP small island developing states by addressing the impact of climate change and building resilience to natural disasters.