Vanuatu Appeals for Aid in Wake of Devastating Cyclone
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The president of Vanuatu appealed for international assistance after his island nation was hit by a terrifying tropical cyclone in what may be one of the region's worst weather disasters.
"I stand to appeal on behalf of the government and people of Vanuatu to the global community to give a lending hand in responding to these very current calamities that have struck us," Baldwin Lonsdale said on Saturday during a speech at a UN conference in Sendai, Japan.
"Fellow heads of state, governments, and development partners, we have all experienced a form of disaster at one time or another. Today we appeal for your assistance."
Lonsdale spoke as the full extent of the damage is unknown, with limited communications in Vanuatu after Super Cyclone Pam, a maximum category five storm, slammed directly into the island nation late Friday with gusts up to 320kph.
The UN had unconfirmed reports of 44 people killed in one province, and said late Saturday that there was no clear number of deaths or injuries but that the impact of the cyclone had been "catastrophic", in a storm that France said highlighted the dangers of climate change.
The latest report on Saturday put the confirmed death toll of Cyclone Pam at eight.
"It felt like the world was going to end," Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told Reuters news agency.
"It's like a bomb has gone off in the centre of the town. There is no power. There is no water."
At least one person has been confirmed dead in Papua New Guinea, one of several other Pacific island nations also affected by the destructive storm, which hit the region starting on Friday.
UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon said he had spoken to Lonsdale to extend his sympathies for the deaths and to express "strong commitment and solidarity" to the cyclone-hit nation.
