Australia was “working closely” with Vanuatu to provide immediate relief to people affected by cyclone Pam, which has devastated the Pacific Island nation, Julie Bishop said on Monday.
Three military planes carrying humanitarian supplies and aid workers left Australia for Port Vila on Sunday, the foreign affairs minister said, and two more followed on Monday.
Speaking from her department’s crisis centre in Canberra, Bishop said Australia’s priority was to provide “immediate relief” in the form of shelter and basic sanitation and medical supplies, but it was clear from the scale of the damage that a longer-term recovery plan would be needed.
“We are aware that this has been a most devastating cyclone,” she said. “The impact will be felt for quite some time ... We stand ready to assist in the long-term recovery efforts.”
Bishop said she spoke to her counterpart, Vanuatu’s foreign affairs minister, Sato Kilman, on Monday, and intended to visit Vanuatu soon.
The death toll is not confirmed, but there are reports of at least eight people dead. No Australians are thought to be among the victims.
Bishop said Australia was conducting aerial surveys of Vanuatu’s southern islands to asses the damage and identify places where Australians might be.
“We are doing what we can to check hotels, to check accommodation and other tourists places, and we are in contact with our high commission,” she said.
“The reconnaissance over the southern islands will obviously inform our understanding about whether there are any other areas that we need to check for the presence of Australians, or any other people.”
Australia was also working with France, Britain and New Zealand in the search and rescue mission.
The Australian government will offer non-government organisations, the Red Cross and the United Nations, a total of $5m in assistance. It will also provide humanitarian aid including water and shelter to help up to 5,000 people.
The British prime minister, David Cameron, has pledged ₤2m ($A3.8m).
The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, spoke to his counterpart in Vanuatu, Joe Natuman, overnight.
“Prime minister Natuman thanked the Australian government and people for their assistance,” a statement released by Abbott’s office said. “He advised that Vanuatu had declared a state of emergency to enable its national disaster management office to get on with the recovery task.”
Bishop said the government was trying to contact all Australians known to be in Vanuatu.
“About 1,400 Australians have registered with the government at this stage. But we expect that at any one time there could be up to 3,000 Australians in Vanuatu,” she said.
Extra consular staff have been sent to the capital, Port Vila, to help the Australian high commission cope with an influx of requests, Bishop said.
“We have had a number of requests for consular assistance,” the foreign minister said. “We have offered assisted passage back to Australia. Our military aircraft are coming back to Australia and so people can apply to travel back on the military planes. But at this stage the commercial flights are flying.”
The airport in Port Vila has reopened after the category five cyclone tore through the Pacific nation on Friday night.
The country is used to storms, but cyclone Pam, with its 250km/h winds, has caused devastation on a previously unseen scale.
Australia has also received requests for assistance from the governments of the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
“It’s becoming increasingly clear that we are now dealing with worse than the worst-case scenario in Vanuatu,” the head of Oxfam in Australia, Helen Szoke, said. “Oxfam is committed to helping Vanuatu for as long as it takes.”
Bishop said: “I imagine that, as we carry out our assessments across the Pacific that there’ll be a need for long-term recovery efforts. But at this stage we’re focusing on the immediate humanitarian needs.”
The head of Oxfam in Vanuatu, Colin Collet van Rooyen, said the lack of clean water and sanitation were the most pressing needs.
“There are more than 100,000 people likely homeless, more than 90% of houses damaged in Port Vila alone, nearly every school destroyed, full evacuation centres, damage to health facilities and the morgue,” he said.
- Australians who have concerns about friends and family in Vanuatu can call the consular assistance line on 1300 555 135.
