Vanuatu children back to school on Monday

Transcript

Save the Children says sending children affected by Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu back to school will help them deal with the trauma they have experienced and normalise their lives.

The government has called to start back at school on Monday.

Its country director, Tom Skirrow, says it's important children go back to school as soon as possible.

He says where classrooms are still being used as evacuation centres or are badly damaged, large tents will be brought in for use.

TOM SKIRROW: Children make up about 50 percent of this country, it's a very young country. Children are more vulnerable in a natural disaster than any other. They need to get back to school, they need to be protected, they need to be in a safe place. We're working our hardest that them and their families are fully protected. We're focussed on pretty much all the needs that people have and that's important for us, is to make sure we're giving the community the holistic support, structure, so that they get everything from us in one go.

MARY BAINES: I understand the government has called children back to school for Monday. What do you think about that?

TS: It's really important to get people back into school as quickly as possible. I mean those children, their lives have been significantly disrupted over the last two weeks. And the quicker that they can normalise their lives, the more they can get over the trauma they've experienced and the more they can get used to life. And it also helps them to be more protected, too. I mean it helps them to be safeguarded while their parents are out fixing up their houses and fixing up their gardens to be in a safe environment in a school.

MB: Many schools are still being used as evacuation centres or housing some people. What are the implications of that?

TS: I think, yeah, there's significant damage to schools. There are areas that people are still sheltering in. So what we're doing is working with the government, working with the schools, to try and get as many of those schools as possible up and running as they exist. And where we can't do that we are providing temporary learning spots, large tents, just to get them back into a space. School won't be the same next week. It will be different. There will be shorter class times, there will be slightly more cramped conditions, but it's a step in the right direction, and that's what we think is important.

MB: What about resources, is there enough books, stationery, that kind of thing?

TS: I think there's a lack, we will need more. They will work with what they've got for now. And the point is to just keep working, keep getting them out the resources, helping them rebuild back their schools as quickly as possible.

MB: What islands are you focussing on, I mean, who needs you the most at the moment?

TS: We are looking at the lot of the Shepherd Islands, north of Port Vila. And they're really isolated, they don't get a lot of support, even in times outside of disaster when they might need it. And so our aim is to work in probably the most challenging area logistically because we know that's something we can bring and help a lot. So we've got ships moving out, we've already arrived in an island called Pangoa and I understand we're distributing significant amount of aid there, and then we're going to move on to an island called Epi later on.