Vanuatu Situation Report #5 23 March 2015

Vanuatu
Tropical Cyclone Pam
WFP/Victoria Cavanagh

Highlights
The Government is planning to provide immediate
food assistance to 162,000 people affected by
Tropical Cyclone Pam and has asked WFP to
supplement their rations for the next few weeks.
Between 22 and 23 March, food was distributed to
six priority islands in Shefa Province.
On Saturday 21 March, a UAE-funded 747 landed in
Brisbane from UNHRDs in Dubai and Malaysia,
carrying relief items and equipment for several
humanitarian partners.
The WFP Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM)
team have left Port Vila to undertake further
assessments to verify the number of island areas
for priority food distributions.

Situation Update
Initial government-led assessment reports confirm

In numbers
22 islands affected
162,000 people in need of food,
agriculture and livelihood assistance
33,365 households targeted for
food distributions
Funding Update:
Special Operation: USD2.28 million
required USD250,000 confirmed
(USAID/OFDA)

IR-EMOP: USD1.45 million required

USD466,855 confirmed (Australia)

EMOP: US$4 million

Total required = US$7.73 million
Flash Appeal = US$5.44 million
[food operation]

destruction ranging from 20 to 90 percent of

houses, schools, clinics, churches and crops on all
22 affected islands. Food stocks are limited with
vegetable gardens wiped out, which has become a
concern for food security. An estimated 162,000
people affected across all 6 provinces
require immediate food, agriculture and livelihood
assistance.
Communications with remote islands remain a
major challenge and re-establishing contact to get a
clearer picture of needs continues to be a priority.

WFP Response
Distributions of rice, tinned meat and fish, and
noodles were completed for six islands of Shefa
Province.
Additional food packages will be dispatched 23-24
March to the northern islands of Ambrym, Paama,
Mere Lava, Maewo and Pentecost.
Initial food packages for Tanna and Erromango were
dispatched on 22 March to Tanna Island, where a
WFP team will be on the ground to monitor delivery.
WFP is finalizing a local purchase of 200 mt rice in
Vanuatu, on the island of Santos. The first
consignment of this rice will be transported using
coastal vessels on 26 March for immediate
distribution.

Vanuatu Situation Report #5 23 March 2015

Clusters
Food Assistance

Joint Government-led assessments indicate that

33,365 households will need food assistance
across the affected regions.
Food and other relief items from Oxfam and
International Medical Corps (IMC), were
transported by ferry on 23 March to be
distributed in the northern priority islands,
accompanied by distribution personnel.

Logistics

WFP logistics is working with partners to set up

storage facilities on the affected islands.

Emergency Telecommunications
Cluster (ETC)

ETC partner Ericsson Response has deployed

equipment kits, used to manage and distribute
shared internet services for the response
community.
Voice communication and internet connectivity in
areas outside of Port Vila are currently limited to
portable satellite terminals.
The cyclone severely damaged the power grid
and it is expected to be offline for a number of
weeks. Solar power equipment and portable
generators are needed to recharge essential
communications equipment.

WFP is working with the Australian government

and WFP Philippines to finalise an airlift for highenergy biscuits (HEB) with expected arrival in
Port Vila on 24 March 2015.
Approximately 100 mt of food, as well as logistics
items are on there way to Tanna from Port Vila
by local barge and will arrive on 24 March.
WFP, with assistance from UNICEF, has set up
one mobile storage unit (MSU) at the Port Vila
airport and will set up another one in Tanna.
A UAE-funded 747 landed in Port Vila carrying
relief items and equipment for WFP and several
humanitarian partners from the UN Humanitarian
Response Depots (UNHRD) in Dubai and
Malaysia.

Food Security Cluster

Six agricultural officers and members of the

Vanuatu Humanitarian Team accompanied the
food packages distributed to Shefa province
islands of Makira, Mataso, Pele, Mosso, Tongoa,
and Tongariki.
to provide planting advice and to perform
detailed crop and livestock impact assessments.
Each dispatch included a distribution guidance
template in Bislama language to provide planting
advice.
Rapid animal needs assessments are starting
with priority areas in Shefa, while information on
the cyclones impact on fisheries is required.

Logistics Cluster

Approximately 100 mt food, two mobile storage

units and logistics items were loaded on 23 March
for distribution in Tanna.
Three mobile storage units (MSU) have arrived in
Port Vila on 22 March. Two are being erected
today at the Port Vila airport by WFP. Two will be
transported to Tanna to be erected at Tanna
airport. They will be operated in cooperation with
UNICEF to be used as a common storage space
for the Government and humanitarian agencies.

Country: Vanuatu

Other/Miscellaneous
Nutrition & Gender: WFP is liaising with UNICEF
and participating in the Nutrition Cluster to
monitor the status and reassess the needs of
children and pregnant and lactating women as
the full extent of the emergency unfolds. Prior to
the emergency, the prevalence of stunting was
28.5% and wasting was 4.4% in children underfive with more boys stunted and wasted than
girls.
On 22 March, during the Australian Foreign
Minister Julie Bishops visit in Vanuatu, the
Australian Foreign Minister reinforced Australias
continuous cooperation with WFP to support the
ongoing response.
WFP has 23 staff on the ground and 3 more will
arrive this week to support the Governments
response.

Resourcing Update
A Flash Appeal for a period of 3 months will be
launched and will reflect WFPs food requirements
of USD5.4 million targeting a maximum of
162,650 people for 2 weeks and a maximum of
60,000 for 2.5 months.
To date, a contribution of USD466,855 from
Australia has been confirmed for the IR-EMOP
and USD250,000 from USID/OFDA for the SO.

Contacts
Silke Buhr, Regional Communications Officer
silke.buhr@wfp.org (Bangkok)
Robin Landis, Regional Reports Officer
robin.landis@wfp.org (Bangkok)
Reyan Fahmi, Reports Officer
reyan.fahmi@wfp.org (Vanuatu)