A birthday trip to a disaster zone

For my birthday, my parents used their frequent flier miles to give me a ticket to Vanuatu. I leave early tomorrow morning and I’ll be with Mike by mid-afternoon. It’ll be our first time away together since Dominic was born three and a half years ago, and I’m super excited about our quiet romantic getaway in a tropical paradise.

Oh, wait. I’m thinking about the Vanuatu of two weeks ago.

OK, so I can’t wait to camp out with Mike in World Vision’s makeshift headquarters, witness the chaos first hand, and help out where I can.

Here’s an update on where things stand at present…

As telecommunications are slowly being restored island by island, the number of World Vision staff reported safe and well has crept up and up. On Sunday, Mike reported that all 81 World Vision staff have finally been accounted for. 

The electricity is back on where he is in Port Vila.

It’s estimated that half the population of the country, or more, have been left homeless by the cyclone. The livelihoods of 80% of those living in rural areas have been severely compromised. Gardens and livestock have been wiped out, and the plan is to distribute emergency food relief to fully two thirds of the population.

The Australian military has sent in HMAS Tobruk, 300 personnel, and at least one helicopter (special shout out here to my cousin, Brendan, who is a helicopter pilot and in Vila at the moment with the military). Australia’s also sent over medical teams. I’m sure there’s stuff happening related to other countries, too, but that hasn’t hit my radar here.

The government and aid agencies have started to shift relief supplies out to the hard-hit islands, like Tanna. Here’s a photo of the area surrounding the World Vision office on Tanna. Amazingly, the office itself survived the storm pretty well. The same cannot be said for most other buildings on that island.

Photo Credit: Steve Goudswaard

Anyway, I’ll know a lot more once I’m actually on the ground, and I’ll give you a better update then as time and internet access permits.