60,000 children in need of assistance after Cyclone Pam

UNICEF NZ (UN Children’s Fund)
Media Release
16 March 2015

UNICEF: Nearly 60,000 children in need of immediate assistance after Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu

Donate: www.unicef.org.nz/vanuatu

Tens of thousands of children are in urgent need of assistance in Vanuatu after tropical Cyclone Pam ripped through the island.

UNICEF New Zealand Executive Director, Vivien Maidaborn, said, “Our biggest concern continues to be for the estimated 60,000 children in Vanuatu affected by this crisis.

“While the cyclone has passed, further threats around health, nutrition, safety and schooling continue to loom on the horizon.”

The category 5 super storm hit late on Friday night (13 March) and continued into the early hours of Saturday morning, leaving children at particular risk.

“It felt like the world was coming to an end,” said UNICEF’s Alice Clements, one of UNICEF’s staff members who was in the capital, Port Vila, when the storm hit.

“The winds were incredibly strong, ripping off roofs, destroying homes and damaging hospitals and schools. Countless homes have been torn apart and communities have been left in ruins.”

Access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities has been disrupted in many places in Vanuatu, including in evacuation centres, leading to high risks of water-borne and vector–borne diseases. UNICEF is supporting the Government and working with partners to provide water containers, purification tablets, soap and temporary toilets or latrines.

UNICEF is also assessing the damage to infrastructure and key services. Early childhood centres as well as primary and secondary schools have been damaged by the cyclone or are being used as evacuation centres.

UNICEF is supporting children and families in evacuation centres with child protection, education and health services.

UNICEF is also coordinating a measles prevention campaign with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Vanuatu Ministry of Health - given low immunisation rates in the country and a recent measles outbreak in early March. UNICEF teams are restoring the essential cold store for vaccines using emergency fuel stocks, so that life-saving immunisations can be delivered to children.

UNICEF is also providing assistance to communities in Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands which have also been affected.

“Our neighbours in the Pacific have suffered a catastrophe that may have long lasting consequences for these already vulnerable nations.

“We are calling on all New Zealanders; individuals, businesses and schools, to support our Vanuatu emergency appeal so that we can help those currently suffering, to get back on their feet. Please donate what you can at www.unicef.org.nz/vanuatu.”

-Ends

For further information on our Vanuatu emergency appeal, please visit: www.unicef.org.nz/vanuatu

UNICEF New Zealand is maintaining a live blog (https://storify.com/UNICEFNZ/cyclone-pam) with updates on the ground from Vanuatu and details about our emergency response. It may be of interest for your news coverage online. The embed code is below: