Transcript
The delivery of emergency supplies to Vanuatu's cyclone affected areas in the northern Torba Province is underway with a number of ships making the journey over the weekend.
Urgent supplies include medical aid, bottled water, and emergency shelter material for both the Torres and Banks Island groups.
The National Disaster Management Office director Shadrack Welegtabit says a detailed damage report is due out this week as an assessment team has just returned to the capital.
He says in general, there is a lot of flood and food garden damage, as well as water contamination in some of the areas that will take some time to recover.
"We also have an assessment done for Torres and the assessment team arrived back in Port Vila and we will put together an assessment report and put it together with those people that came back from Torres to do the assessment, and once that report is done, that will be made available."
And he says they are working closely with the provincial governor and utilising stakeholders and humanitarian groups already based there to work with the government to implement their emergency relief response.
Mr Welegtabit says that there have been no reports of death or injuries following the storm.
Marielo Laloyer is from Torba Province but now lives in Port Vila.
She says she is busy organising a community fundraising drive and hopes local businesses will help.
Ms Loloyer says she hopes to send much needed materials back home within the week.
"The greatest needs on Torres at the moment is nails, saw, hammer, rice, sugar and matches as I think the Red Cross and the NDMO is moving down to Torres with taupaulin and water so we are just planning a small fundraising to help."
Vanuatu country director for Oxfam, Lisa Faerua, says they have provided seeds to grow corn and beans, for families whose gardens were ruined by the flooding and strong winds.
She says it is important for mothers and families to be able to provide healthy food on the table, and these seeds will produce within four weeks.
"Oxfam is working in a more collaborative approach working closely with the government and other NGOs. We are working through clusters and recently we have supported the food security cluster with seeds to provide to affected areas up in the Torba Province and these seeds will help people to grow food again, straight away. "
Ms Faerua says the organisation also has 80 taupaulins that it can send over and can assist in any other way.
In New Caledonia, damage assessments have begun after reports that around 100 homes were destroyed and schools also suffered cyclone damage across Lifou and Ouvea.
Solomon Islands disaster authorities are also now assessing the impact of Cyclone Donna on remote islands in the country's easternmost Temotu Province, which is very near Vanuatu's north.
