tropical cyclone killed at least six people in Vanuatu, UNICEF said Saturday, confirming first casualties from one of the most powerful storms ever to make landfall.
Hardly a tree stood straight after Tropical Cyclone Pam bellowed across the Pacific island nation.
Aid workers fear many more fatalities. The confirmed deaths came only from the capital, Port Vila.
Hardly a tree stood straight after Tropical Cyclone Pam bellowed across the Pacific island nation.
Aid workers fear many more fatalities. The confirmed deaths came only from the capital, Port Vila.
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| Tropical Cyclone Pam Hits Vanuatu |
A radio silence has set in on possible deaths elsewhere, and it is making Sune Gudnitz feel uneasy, Thats CNN said.
"Unfortunately, we have nothing from outside of Port Vila, which is in itself a bad sign," the spokesman for UN aid agency OCHA said. Widespread wiped out communications could indicate desolation.
"We've heard there has been quite a lot of destruction up north." That's where Pam's eye roared through.
'Unbelievable destruction'
Pam had churned through the South Pacific with the might of a Category 5 hurricane before notching down to Category 4 after landfall. CNN's Weather Center said 155 mph (250 kmh) winds razed the island nation.
There were gusts up to 200 mph (325 kmh). And the cyclone's damage has awed relief workers.
"Unbelievable destruction," the Australian Red Cross called it, particularly in terms of human suffering. "Humanitarian needs will be enormous. Many people have lost their homes. Shelter, food and water (are) urgent priorities," the aid agency said in a tweet.
Trees piled high
Alice Clements spent the night cowering under the bathroom sink.
"But all what I could think about during that time is the people who might be literally clinging to coconut trees for their lives, and trying to hold on in those horrific winds," the UNICEF spokeswoman said.
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| UNICEF Tweet About Horrific Winds |
After Pam passed, World Vision emergency specialist Chloe Morrison took a drive around the island that is home to the capital.
"Port Vila looks like an absolute bomb has hit it," she said. Images showed trees toppled to the ground, along with corrugated metal roofing strewn around like silver wrappers.
Trees stood in the way of Morrison's vehicle. "They've fallen across in piles so high in some places you can barely see over the top," she said.
Strongest since Haiyan
Pam is the strongest storm to make landfall in the Pacific typhoon region since Haiyan raked over the Philippines in 2013, obliterating parts of Leyte.
It shattered homes and trees into match sticks, and killed more than 6,000 people.
Vanuatu's capital may have been luckier than Leyte.
City on lockdown
Many roads are obstructed in Port Vila, and police had put the city on temporary lockdown, Gudnitz said. But there are some solid structures there to protect people. And in first images out of the city, many buildings looked intact.
The capital may be a fortunate exception.
The nation, which lies east of Australia, is an archipelago comprising 83 small islands, many remote and lacking infrastructure. People away from the capital live much like their ancestors did generations ago.
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| Storm Was a Terrifying Occurence |
Homes are built of weaker materials, including straw and corrugated steel, and may have had little stamina against Pam's raging winds.
Huts around Port Vila did not. Some blew away, Morrison said. "There are some villages that have been absolutely decimated."
Hunkered down, terrified
Even in a concrete house in Port Vila, emergency worker Morrison was terrified of the whirring force. She huddled in a back room with seven other people.
"Seven hours hunkered down and it's still not safe to go outside," she said early Saturday. "The winds are still really howling." It sounded like there was an angry ocean at their door.
As a piece of tin twisted off the roof and landed by a window, Morrison felt lucky to be shielded by solid walls.
Concrete churches
World Vision's emergency assessment team planned to view damage after the storm died down.
Their staff hopes preparations will have paid off. They had positioned clean water, food, blankets, tarpaulins, and shelter, hygiene and kitchen kits in key places before the cyclone arrived.
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| Cyclone Pam's Projected Path |
They advised residents to seek shelter in sturdy buildings such as universities and schools.
"The strongest thing they've got is cement churches," said Inga Mepham from CARE International. "Some of them don't have that. It's hard to find a structure that you'd think would be able to withstand a Category 5 (storm)."
Next cyclone brewing
Pam is forecast to move southeastward along the western edge of the southern islands of Vanuatu. It isn't expected to make any additional landfalls before dissipating.
It will continue to weaken as it crosses cooler waters and encounters higher wind shear.
But over Queensland, Australia, a new cyclone, Nathan, is brewing. It is expected to arrive at Vanuatu this week.
