World Vision buildings in Vanuatu have been boarded up to weather the storm.
Chloe Morrison, an Australian, is based in Port Vila for World Vision. Chloe is currently doing Communications on the impact of Cyclone Pam on her adopted island home.
I’m awake – I have been on and off for hours and I can say the wait is over – Cyclone Pam has been.
But I am yet to really see her or the devastation she has brought upon my island home and its people.
For more than 7 hours I have been listening to wind roaring like an angry ocean as it tried to pick the house off the ground.
I have heard our cyclone shutters bash aggressively against the windows.
I have heard what sounds like someone’s roof land on ours.
I heard rain bash the roof like someone playing the drums.
Vanuatu and I have spent more than 7 hours listening to the roar of a category 5 cyclone.
And at times it has been terrifying. But I am yet to see what these winds have left in their wake.
These winds sound like they would pick leaf huts – common homes for many in Vanuatu – off the ground like confetti. Like they would toss trees like toothpicks. And rain sounds like it would flood the ocean.
It is now that I realise – thank God for the long wait.
We won’t know for a few hours what communities will need, but from what I have heard overnight I bet clean water, food and shelter will be immediate priorities.
The wait for Cyclone Pam is over.
The wait has meant World Vision and other aid agencies had been able to help communities to prepare for Cyclone Pam throughout this week.
The wait has meant people have been able to leave their leaf huts for safe shelter and evacuation centres.
The wait has meant World Vision has been able to organise prepositioned supplies so we can act as fast as possible to help people who need it most.
Chloe is Grants and Communications Officer for World Vision in Vanuatu.
[…] World Vision Australia communications officer Chloe Morrison documented her experience through the cyclone on the not-for-profit’s blog. […]
[…] Chloe Morrison is grants and communications officer for the relief organization in Vanuatu. She is chronicling the impact of Tropical Storm Pam on her adopted home. – dsashin, CNN iReport […]