Two rapid assessment teams have arrived in the two small southern Vanuatu islands hit hardest by Cyclone Pam to rapidly assess exactly what survivors of the disaster need. Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collett van Rooyen, said one team was now in Tanna and another team was in Erromango with both due back to Port […]
The call to end to health inequality between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other Australians continues to get louder, with a record number of events being held nationwide on Thursday 19 March to mark National Close the Gap Day. Community groups, health services, schools, businesses, government offices and individuals around Australia are registering online […]
As the death toll from Cyclone Pam begins to rise reports are now coming out of the small southern Vanuatu island of Tanna that there is almost no food or clean water and very little medical assistance for the 30,000 people who live there. Tanna, which took the full force of the 250kmh Cyclone Pam, […]
Vanuatu could face a second emergency with waterborne disease a real risk if the need for clean water, sanitation and hygiene is not met, Oxfam said today. Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collett van Rooyen, said a lack of enough clean water, temporary toilets, water purification tablets and hygiene kits needed to be […]
More Oxfam Humanitarian Emergency responders are flying to Vanuatu this morning on an Australian Government plane, as the unconfirmed death toll in the small archipelago begins to climb and worse than worst case scenario unfolds. Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collet van Rooyen, said the situation in Vanuatu was increasingly grim. “There are more than 100,000 […]
Oxfam’s 10 person team in Vanuatu is reporting damage to major infrastructure like the hospital, the morgue and schools as the picture of complete devastation in Vanuatu now begins to unfold. Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collet van Rooyen, said the damage to things as important as the morgue, the hospital and schools could create major […]
Up to 90 per cent of housing in Vanuatu’s capital is reported to have been seriously damaged by Cyclone Pam, with still no information from the extremely vulnerable outer islands which are home to 33,000 people. Oxfam Country Director in Port Vila, Colin Collet van Rooyen said today while six deaths have been confirmed this number is likely […]
Stories of complete devastation are beginning to come out of Vanuatu in the aftermath of the severe tropical cyclone Pam.
After a last minute change of course to the west Cyclone Pam made a direct hit on Vanuatu last night, tearing through the archipelago with winds of up to 250kmh. With more than 250,000 people at risk from the severe tropical cyclone there is real concern of a potentially high death toll and of […]
Oxfam is now preparing to respond to Cyclone Pam as it begins to tear through Vanuatu, after it unexpectedly veered west at the last minute, placing a number of Vanuatu’s islands directly in the eye of the devastating storm.