at aid groups swarming into the cyclone-ravaged Pacific nation over a lack of
coordination which it said cost precious time getting help to those in need.
The scathing comments came as Agriculture Minister David Tosul warned that
the struggling subsistence-based country would run out of food in less than a
week, pleading for rice, biscuits, seeds, tinned protein and cash to help ship
them in.
Relief agencies have been battling logistical challenges in the sprawling
archipelago with a lack of landing strips and deep water ports hampering their
efforts to reach distant islands and get a better grip on the full scale of
the disaster.
They continue to paint a bleak picture, detailing large-scale property and
crop destruction, shortages of clean water and fears of disease.
Aid finally reached the badly hit island of Tanna on Wednesday, five days
after Severe Cyclone Pam roared ashore on Friday night, but many of the 80
islands that make up Vanuatu remain out of touch and without help.
National disaster committee deputy chair Benjamin Shing said while the
country appreciated the help, the initial response could have been handled
better with many aid groups and NGOs working on their own rather than in
cooperation with the government.
"I do apologise but I have to state the facts. We have seen this time and
time again," he said at a briefing late Wednesday in the capital Port Vila.
"In nearly every country in the world where they go in they have their own
operational systems, they have their own networks and they refuse to conform
to government directives.
"We had to spend the first three days trying to get some form of
coordination in place. That was much precious time that could have been spent
doing the assessments instead."
Oxfam country director in Port Vila Colin Collett van Rooyen denied any
disorganisation.
"Our position is that we will continue to work with the government, as we
have been, and as we always do, to address the best interests of those in
need," he told AFP.
Death toll confusion
There is also confusion over the death toll. Early reports from the UNOffice for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Friday evening
announced an unconfirmed 44 dead, which then went to 24 confirmed, only to be
revised down again to 11.
The Vanuatu government said in fact only seven people were confirmed dead
and that the four others were patients already in hospitals whose deaths were
not directly related to the storm.
"The number of confirmed fatalities that we have for Tanna, there are five,
for Port Vila there are six, so if you do the math, it's 11," said Shing.
"But technically, there are only seven that are due to the cyclone. Four
deaths in the hospital were patients... they were already sick. Not related to
the cyclone -- unrelated deaths."
Reconnaissance flights by military aircraft from Australia and France on
Wednesday "found severe and widespread damage across the larger islands of
Tanna, Erromango and Efate," the UN said, but less destruction on the nation's
smaller southern islands.
Work to ferry relief supplies to Tanna and other islands continued
Thursday, with Tosul saying the cyclone had severely impacted the ability of
the population to feed itself.
He said bananas and other fruit trees had been destroyed, leafy vegetables
decimated and staple root crops irreparably damaged, with limited supplies of
imported food left.
"In short, our agricultural experts estimate that Vanuatu's people will run
out of food in less than one week," he said, adding that the government was
establishing an emergency food account for financial contributions.
-- Glenda Kwek