March 16, 2015—After a category 5 cyclone tore through the island nation of Vanuatu over the weekend, the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) has been in touch with Global Ministries missionaries and church partners in the region to assess damages and needs.
Francesco Paganini, UMCOR executive secretary for International Disaster Response, reached out to Global Ministries missionaries, Rev. Wesley Neal and Rev. Dr. Jerusha Neal, who are serving in nearby Fiji, and to the Methodist Church of Fiji, to ascertain details and begin to investigate needs in the stricken areas.
At its peak, Cyclone Pam packed winds of up to 165 miles per hour, devastating effects of which were felt particularly on the islands of Ermango, Tanna and Efate. The capital city, Port Vila, is located on Efate Island. Vanuatu, mountainous and of volcanic origin, is made up of some 65 islands, with a total population of 267,000.
According to news reports, President Baldwin Lonsdale said that six people were confirmed dead, 30 injured, and 90 percent of buildings in Port Vila damaged or destroyed.
“We are waking this morning to calm weather here, but news of devastation in islands nearby,” Rev. Wesley Neal reported on Saturday. He noted how the ferocity of the storm “brings into sharp relief the impact of climate change on this very vulnerable part of the world.”
In addition to Vanuatu, the small island nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu, which include many flat atolls, experienced major wave damage even though they did not take a direct hit from the storm. “There is no ‘high ground’ to which one can retreat,” Rev. Jerusha Neal noted of Kiribati.
UMCOR is pursuing appropriate and effective avenues of response to the needs created by the powerful cyclone. Please keep the people of Vanuatu and the other impacted island nations of the region in your prayers. You can also help by giving to UMCOR International Disaster Response, Advance #982450.