PORT VILA (Secretariat of the Pacific Community/Radio New Zealand International/Pacific Media Watch): The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) was today on standby to provide technical assistance to the affected Pacific countries amid reports of Cyclone Pam devastating parts of Vanuatu overnight.
The above video by a witness, 350 Vanuatu coordinator Isso Nihmei, who drove around Port Vila, shows the widespread destruction in the capital.
In Noumea, Director-General Dr Colin Tukuitonga said the SPC was ready to deploy teams to Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands, depending on the governments’ needs in the wake of the severe tropical cyclone.
Dr Tukuitonga yesterday contacted Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office to offer SPC assistance, given the greatest impact of the cyclone is expected to be felt in Vanuatu.
Radio New Zealand International reported government buildings had been destroyed, half the Port Vila hospital had gone and that the city was largely wrecked by the cyclone.
The category 5 cyclone also battered Vanuatu's northern provinces and the United Nations said there were reports of 44 people having died in the Penamar Province.
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Pacific Media Watch
