Regional
He's survived every natural disaster
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
EFATE – Volcanic eruptions, landslides, earthquakes and cyclones – 76-year-old Lik Simelum from Vanuatu has survived them all – although he did see his father and youngest brother killed by a cyclone triggered landslide.
Death toll rises, homeless go hungry
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT VILA – The United Nations has raised the confirmed death toll in Vanuatu in the wake of Cyclone Pam from 11 to 16 in the wake of the direct hit from the devastating category five storm on March 13.
Importance of forests highlighted
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT MORESBY – A United Nations ecology expert says the world needs to realise the importance the forests of Papua New Guinea holds in the fight against climate change.
Apology demanded after Nauru review
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
CANBERRA – The Australian Greens says the former Immigration Minister Scott Morrison must apologise for his role in the wrongful sacking of ten charity workers on Nauru.
Violence against refugees continues
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
YAREN – Tensions between refugees and locals on the pacific island of Nauru have been heightened again after a series of violent attacks that have left multiple refugees injured or arrested.
'Pam' a popular name for new babies
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT VILA – Pam has suddenly a become the trendiest name for new baby girls born in Vanuatu since the country was hit by Cyclone Pam last Friday. The local charity ambulance operation Promedical has been involved with two babies called Pam in the past few days and Australian volunteer paramedic Charlotte Gillon said she has heard of others too. Gillon helped deliver local woman Trisha Ronald’s little girl in the back of the ambulance immediately attending to the birth of another little Pamela. “Just before we got a call to come see Trisha we picked up a newborn baby just outside of Port Vila and she’d already been named Pamela so we dropped her off at hospital and then we got another call.” The next baby was born in the ambulance and her mother decided to call the baby Charlotte Pam – for the paramedic and to mark the cyclone. Young paramedic Charlotte, who has been in Vanuatu for two years under the Australian Volunteers International programme, said that was a great honour, and a bright spot in a challenging week. “It’s wonderful to do a job like this at a time like this when the nation’s grappling with a national disaster and to have a joyful healthy baby girl born is wonderful work.” Promedical is a not-for-profit ambulance service that survives via donations and subscriptions. In the days after the storm, with communications down, manager Michael Benjamin and his staff simply drove around looking for people who needed help. He said the community response to the storm had been inspiring. “The people are just simply amazing. I can’t believe the amount of work that these local people are putting in and how quickly they’ve got the roads clear and electricity on and water on. It’s just pretty impressive.” Having been stretched by the demands after the storm, Promedical has set up a fundraising page so it can continue to provide an effective service. Meanwhile, a week on from Cyclone Pam, communities in Vanuatu are on the brink of running out of food and water as aid agencies and local authorities grapple with meeting the immense need. The Vanuatu government estimates that more than 100,000 people have been made homeless by the storm, and not all communities have yet been reached. Cooper Henry, a school teacher from Northern Effate, said the people were catching and eating flying foxes and birds. “Things are getting expensive, rice, the main food in town, is getting expensive. We are trying to find something else like flying bats, flying foxes – we also ate birds. It’s so sad, they too want to live but somehow since they are under our management so we just have to kill.” Food in Vanuatu comes mostly from small gardens but they have been completely wiped out and will take months or years to re-establish.
Island's autonomy to come to an end
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
KINGSTON – The Australian government is to introduce legislation next week to strip Norfolk Island of the autonomy it has enjoyed for nearly 40 years.
Books needed in cyclone ravaged islands
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT VILA – Vanuatu is asking the world – “please send us books!”
Operators focus on reviving tourism
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT VILA – A week after Tropical Cyclone Pam left a path of destruction in Vanuatu, planning has begun to revive the country’s valuable tourism industry.
Vanuatu running out of food
Monday 23 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT VILA – Vanuatu’s Prime Minister, Joe Natuman, says the government will struggle to feed its people over the coming months as the recovery operation after Cyclone Pam gets underway.
Kiribati fears for its future
Thursday 19 March 2015 | Published in Regional
TARAWA – The President of Kiribati says he fears his country won’t be able to carry the cost of the damage caused by natural disasters.
Father believes his daughter is safe
Thursday 19 March 2015 | Published in Regional
CANBERRA – The father of an Australian teenage girl missing in cyclone devastated Vanuatu is optimistic she is alive and helping rebuild the remote village where she is working.
Cyclone forcing Vanuatu to start anew
Thursday 19 March 2015 | Published in Regional
AMBRYN – The people of the Vanuatu island of Ambryn are counting their disasters while marvelling at their good fortune.
Half of Tuvalu's population displaced
Thursday 19 March 2015 | Published in Regional
Funafuti – The entire population on one of Tuvalu’s islands has been evacuated due to flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Pam.
Islanders tested for disaster resilience
Thursday 19 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT VILA – Emergency aid is beginning to reach some of the outlying islands of Vanuatu, after the Pacific archipelago was last week pummelled by Tropical Cyclone Pam.
'It's a scene of utter destruction'
Wednesday 18 March 2015 | Published in Regional
TANNA – The first aid planes arrived to find scenes of utter destruction on the Vanuatu island of Tanna, where residents are in desperate need of emergency supplies four days after taking a direct hit from Cyclone Pam.
Cyclone not finished killing people
Wednesday 18 March 2015 | Published in Regional
TANNA – Lishie Rossie, who works for Australian charity Live and Learn, said Cyclone Pam probably hadn’t finished killing people.
Joy at finding mothers alive
Wednesday 18 March 2015 | Published in Regional
TANNA – Desperate Vanuatu residents scoured the remains of their homes in search of missing family members on Tuesday, four days after deadly Cyclone Pam smashed into the Pacific island chain.
Island devastation 'simply indescribable'
Wednesday 18 March 2015 | Published in Regional
TANNA – The first images have begun to emerge of the destruction on Tanna, about 200 kilometres south of the capital Port Vila, as aid workers and officials begin to assess the damage on the island.
Handling of aid questioned
Wednesday 18 March 2015 | Published in Regional
PORT VILA – The Government in Vanuatu is coming under fire for taking control of the distribution of aid in the wake of Cyclone Pam.
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