Aid has not reached all communities - Vanuatu government

Transcript

The Vanuatu government has acknowledged some communities have not received any aid, two weeks after category five Cyclone Pam struck the country.

A spokesperson, Kiery Manassah, says aid has been delivered to all the islands but has not reached every village due to logistical issues.

He is urging those who have not received relief supplies to make use of the resources they have, and says the government is doing everything it can to reach them as soon as possible.

KIERY MANASSAH: The message from the government is that the assistance that they are getting now is just for about 15 to 20 days, and then they should be getting more assistance with better logistics and with support of the HMS Canterbury, and support from Australia, and the French, more distribution should be going out to them in the next couple of weeks.

MARY BAINES: While all the islands have received aid, I understand a lot of communities are still without aid. Our reporter on the ground said he has seen a number of communities who haven't received anything in the last two weeks. What do you think about that?

KM: Yeah, I think it would be true, because of the logistics problems that we have here. Communication is quite, I mean, a lot of these islands are remote, they don't get regular calls from ships and so we are very grateful that we having the services of the dragonfly and New Zealand is also here. We were down on Epi, a lot of those places were also badly damaged. And they, at that time, they hadn't received any assistance so I'm just hopeful that all the assistance would receive them in good time. But you know, in Vanuatu here, like we have calculated that they would have enough food to be able to sustain themselves. We're trying our best. And with the support of the partners I think we should be able to get the relief to all the people that need them.

MB: There are communities out there who haven't received aid and are feeling let down by the government.

KM: All I can say is that I would urge them to make use of their resources. The government will reach them. Certainly, it will try its best to reach them. And with the support we are getting now from Australia and New Zealand we should be able to reach them.

MB: We've also had reports that the government has not been sticking to the typical UN food ratio of half a kilogram of food per person per day. That it's actually been less than that. Is that correct?

KM: That's a bit of a technical question for me. But my understanding is that the government has allocated some money to purchase the initial food supplies. I mean, based on those calculations, and the fact that the people should be able to have food that should last two weeks from their own crops, and so we've calculated that they should be able to, have all the rations that we need, and getting support from the welfare programme, they should be able to have, I think those requirements should be met by the government. But at the start it was very difficult because a lot of supplies that were coming in were not enough to go around everybody so the government had to step in.

MB: Yes. But are the rations being given to people are they small, smaller than what people are needing and wanting?

KM: There have been reports, media reports here, that they were given five kilograms of rice and of course I think a lot of people complained that it was probably too small. But a lot of those complaints were coming out from people who were living in Port Vila initially, they were not relying on crops from their gardens, they were buying food. And so I just hope the people at the NDMO those who are probably cheating and make sure that people that really need the assistance, because they're depending on their food crops, which have been wiped out by the cyclone. So they're probably just identifying who exactly needs the assistance most, but I'm sure the government will work out those and those at the NDMO should be able to. In the long-run, they should come up with the best approach to distribute food to all the people affected.

MB: So going forward, what's the governments plan to get supplies to these communities that haven't actually been reached yet, and continue to get aid to those people who need it over the next weeks and months?

KM: I mean if we are talking about people in the islands, I can't really say anything on it. Even in Port Vila alone, people are still waiting for food but like I said, a lot of these people don't have crops growing they depend on food from the shops. As for those who are in the islands, like I said, I'm sure given the logistics, the proper assistance, and how we coordinate all the assistance coming in, people should be getting assistance. No body is going to be left out.

MB: Although people have been left out now. So how can we ensure that going forward aid is distributed to the people who need it?

KM: Mary, I mean, I must admit, I haven't been to the NDMO office. I'm sure some of these complaints are being attended to. With this kind of disaster, there's bound to be a lot of complaints and given the logistical challenges that we have, it's very easy to be out there throwing stones, but you know, the government is trying its best. And people, I can assure them that they will get the assistance. Whichever way, the government will make sure that the assistance reaches them.