Tropical Cyclone Pam: Vanuatu's government criticises aid groups over poor coordination of disaster relief

Posted March 19, 2015 20:14:20

Photo: A huge international relief effort is underway in cyclone-stricken Vanuatu. (AFP: Pool: Dave Hunt)

Vanuatu's government has hit out at aid groups over a lack of coordination that it says has resulted in "precious time" being wasted as the country grapples with the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Pam.

Food and relief supplies finally reached the southern island of Tanna on Wednesday, five days after Pam roared ashore.

However, many of the 80 islands that make up the sprawling archipelago remain without help.

Aid agencies are continuing to battle logistical challenges, with a lack of landing strips and deep water ports hampering their efforts to reach the outer islands.

They have described scenes of large-scale property and crop destruction, and said there is an urgent need for clean water, medical supplies, tents, bedding and hygiene kits.

Benjamin Shing, deputy chair of Vanuatu's national disaster committee, said while his country appreciated the aid, the initial response could have been handled better.

He accused many groups and NGOs of working on their own rather than in cooperation with the government.

Before and after Cyclone Pam

Witness the devastation from the air in aerial photos taken before and after Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu.

"I do apologise but I have to state the facts. We have seen this time and time again," he said at a briefing.

"In nearly every country in the world where they go in they have their own operational systems, they have their own networks and they refuse to conform to government directives.

"We had to spend the first three days trying to get some form of coordination in place. That was much precious time that could have been spent doing the assessments instead."

Oxfam country director in Port Vila, Colin Collett van Rooyen, denied any disorganisation.

"Our position is that we will continue to work with the government, as we have been, and as we always do, to address the best interests of those in need," Mr Collett van Rooyen said.

Transparency Vanuatu blamed the government for its disaster response, saying officials were still identifying where aid and medical supplies ought to be delivered.

"After six days the problem with the aid is that it has not been distributed," Transparency's president Marie-Noelle Ferrieux Patterson told the ABC.

"There is a difference between assessing the widespread disaster and making plans, and at the same time knowing which islands have been affected.

"And when you have volunteer doctors that are offering to help all over the place, coming even with medical supplies ... [they should] be able to send helicopters to different islands as soon as possible.

"But at this stage nothing has been done on that part."

Government, UN at odds on cyclone death toll

Meanwhile, a team of Australian medical workers has started treating injured people at the main hospital in the capital Port Vila.

At least 11 people have been killed in the disaster, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says.

However, the Vanuatu government said in fact only seven people were confirmed dead and that the four others were patients already in hospitals whose deaths were not directly related to the storm.

Reconnaissance flights by military aircraft from Australia and France has "found severe and widespread damage across the larger islands of Tanna, Erromango and Efate", the UN said.

New Zealand has sent a navy ship to Vanuatu with heavy engineering equipment to help repair roads and key infrastructure.

France has also dispatched a frigate from New Caledonia with helicopters on board.

Vanuatu's agriculture minister David Tosul warned the subsistence-based country needed rice, biscuits, seeds, tinned protein and cash to help ship them in.

He said bananas and other fruit trees had been destroyed, leafy vegetables devastated and staple root crops irreparably damaged, with limited supplies of imported food.

"In short, our agricultural experts estimate that Vanuatu's people will run out of food in less than one week," he said.

ABC/AFP

Topics: cyclones, disasters-and-accidents, relief-and-aid-organisations, government-and-politics, vanuatu, pacific, australia