MELBOURNE, Australia
Storm-ravaged Vanuatu’s prime minister broke down as he made an emotional appeal for international aid, Australian media reported on Monday.
Baldwin Lonsdale held back tears as he described the devastating impact of the “monster” cyclone that has left nearly half the archipelago’s population homeless and killed at least six people.
He called for “immediate help” after Cyclone Pam tore through the small Pacific island nation over the weekend, News Corp Australia reported.
More than 100,000 people are homeless and 90 percent of the buildings in capital Port Vila have been destroyed or damaged after winds of more than 270 kilometers per hour (167 miles per hour) struck.
“This is a very devastating cyclone in Vanuatu. I term it as a monster, a monster,” Lonsdale said from Sendai in Japan, where he had been attending a disaster conference when the cyclone struck.
“It’s a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu. After all the development that has taken place, all this development has been wiped out.”
Lonsdale said he could not contact his own family because of damage to the country’s communication infrastructure.
“We do not know if our families are safe or not,” he said. “As the leader of the nation, my whole heart is for the people, the nation.”
The premier added that climate change was contributing to disasters such as the cyclone. “We see the level of sea rise,” he said. “Change in weather patterns. This year we have heavy rain, more than every year.”
Medical workers say the risk of diseases like diarrhoea, measles, malaria and dengue fever is heightened with shortages of drinking water and food expected.
Rescuers had still not made contact with outlying islands, thought to have been hardest hit, on Monday. The death toll is expected to rise as teams reach isolated communities.
Hannington Alatoa, head of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society, said aerial surveys had shown that the country had been “flattened.”
“No trees, no foliage, no iron structures standing on the western part of Tanna [island],” Alatoa said. “People are in great need of water.”
Vanuatu is cluster of islands 2,000 km northeast of Australia. It is among the world's poorest countries and is highly prone to earthquakes, tsunamis and storms.
Aid officials said the storm was comparable in strength to Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013 and killed more than 6,300.
