RAW VIDEO: Cyclone Pam causes destruction in Port Vila, Vanuatu

Description: RAW VIDEO: Cyclone Pam causes destruction in Port Vila, Vanuatu A “once-in-a-lifetime” storm is bearing down on the South Pacific islands of Vanuatu, with up to a quarter of a million people in its path, experts warn. Tropical cyclone Pam, a category five storm with wind gusts predicted to reach up to 280km/h at its core, was expected to reach Vanuatu on Friday night. It has brought warnings of “phenomenal seas” and risks of damaging storm surges, torrential rain, flash flooding and landslides. The United Nations agency Unicef, which has personnel and emergency supplies on standby, warned about 260,000 people were in the potential disaster zone Unicef’s Pacific spokeswoman, Alice Clements, told TVNZ that Pam could create large storm surges, similar to some seen in the past in the Philippines which “behave pretty much like a tsunami”. The Vanuatu National Disaster Management Office has announced a red alert in the major northern provinces of Torba, Sanma, Penama and Malampa, urging residents to seek immediate shelter. Some of those areas face gales of up to 160km/h ahead of the superstorm’s predicted arrival, Vanuatu Meteorological Services has warned. Vanuatu Meteorological Service’s acting director, David Gibson, told the Guardian that Pam would be the most powerful storm ever to bear down on Vanuatu. “As far as I can remember, this is the first [category five] cyclone to come very close to Vanuatu,” he said. “This is obviously a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of us.” Gibson said Uma, the last major tropical cyclone to hit Vanuatu in 1987 which left a reported 48 dead and 5,000 homeless, was a category four at its strongest. Although Pam would not make landfall, its destructive winds and resulting storm surges would peak on Vanuatu’s northern and eastern islands by 8pm on Friday, he said. The chairman of Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Committee, Jotham Napat, told ABC authorities were identifying potential evacuation centres nationwide. Everyone from civil servants to street vendors had been sent home to bunker down. “We are requesting our police officers to move into different communities to let them know they need to be evacuated to certain areas; we’ll be using mostly the churches and the public buildings,” Napat said. Care Vanuatu’s program manager, Charlie Damon, said traditional housing would be destroyed by the rare storm and widespread deaths were inevitable unless people made it to emergency shelters. “It’s definitely high anxiety here but fortunately this cyclone has given us the longest lead time [of] any cyclone ever [to prepare],” she said. “It has certainly given us the opportunity to be more prepared than previously. [But] the traditional housing here will not stand up to a category four or five; its thatched roofs, straw huts, really flimsy timber. “They will definitely blow down and there will be significant loss of life. That’s why the government is urging everyone to go to their designated evacuation centres, schools, churches and so on, because they’re concrete buildings.” Damon said Care was particularly concerned about the vulnerability of those in Tafea province in the south-east because of the basic level of housing. Aside from the destructive winds and storm surges in coastal areas, Damon said the impact of torrential rain on the topography of the highly mountainous islands made landslides a particular risk.

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