PORT VILA, Vanuatu (AP) – It has been a week since Cyclone Pam ravaged the tiny South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, killing at least 13 people and leaving thousands homeless, hungry and desperate for help.
For days, Associated Press reporters have been on the ground and in the air covering the disaster’s impact across the islands, where communications remain patchy to nonexistent and entire villages have been flattened. Here is a look at what they’ve seen as the country struggles to recover from the disaster.
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COMMUNICATION
In a world that has become reliant on instant access to information at any time, it’s hard to overstate the impact on people when they lose access to the Internet and cellphone networks. While intermittent service has been restored in the capital, Port Vila, outside the city there is almost no way to make or receive phone calls. There are many islands still cut off from the outside world, with no ability to communicate. People living on hard-hit Tanna and many of the other islands may have survived the cyclone, but they have no way of knowing how their relatives or friends are faring elsewhere. People are desperate for information and will ask friends or even complete strangers to pass on messages or make a phone call for them.