Category 5 cyclone Harold lashes Vanuatu
A deadly Pacific cyclone intensified since it hit Vanuatu on Monday, threatening an all natural disaster that specialists fear will undermine the impoverished Pacific nation’s battle to stay Covid-19 coronavirus-free.
Tropical Cyclone Harold, which claimed 27 lives when it swept through the Solomon Islands the other day, strengthened to a scale-topping category five superstorm overnight, Vanuatu’s meteorology service said.
The cyclone is currently packing winds of up to 235 kilometres each hour (145 mph), prompting red alerts across several provinces.
It made landfall on the remote east coast of Espiritu Santo island on Monday morning and was heading directly for Vanuatu’s second-largest town Luganville, which has a population of 16,500.
The slow-moving storm is expected to pass north of the administrative centre Port Vila in early stages Tuesday.
Officials warned residents in the country of 300,000 to anticipate flash flooding and said ships should stay static in port or risk facing huge swells.
Another concern may be the impact a big natural disaster could have on Vanuatu’s attempts to stay one of the world’s few countries without the reported Covid-19 infections.
Vanuatu has practically sealed its international borders to avoid the virus but emergency measures such as bans on public meetings have already been temporarily suspended to permit people to assemble in evacuation centres.
“The focus was more on Covid-19 and now we have moved our focus to preparedness for the cyclone,” Vanuatu Red Cross disaster coordinator Augustine Garae told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“We understand that some people in a few communities are not really well prepared.”
A significant international relief effort was needed the last time a category-five system, Cyclone Pam, hit Vanuatu in 2015.
If a similar procedure were needed in the wake of Cyclone Harold it could run the risk of importing the virus to a nation that lacks medical infrastructure to cope with a good mild outbreak.
“There were no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Vanuatu, but a significant disaster at the moment could present serious logistical challenges to delivering life-saving aid,” Oxfam’s Vanuatu director Elizabeth Faerua said.
Cyclone Pam flattened Port Vila, killed 11 persons and left a swath of destruction that the World Bank estimated destroyed almost two-thirds of Vanuatu’s economic capacity.
The most recent storm Harold has already caused widespread damage in the Solomon Islands, where an inter-island ferry ignored weather warnings and 27 persons were washed off its decks.
Solomons police said on Sunday that the bodies of five passengers from the MV Taimareho have been recovered and the search would resume the very next day.
“I would like to thank everyone... mixed up in seek out the missing 27 persons so far as we try whenever you can to find the bodies so their grieving relatives can provide them a proper burial,” chief superintendent Richard Menapi said.
The ferry set off from Honiara for Malaita island on Thursday night, filled with more than 700 people within a government evacuation programme in response to the virus crisis. - AFP
