Communities in north Tanna are suffering from water and food shortages due to a long period of dry weather.
Communities in north Tanna are suffering from water and food shortages due to a long period of dry weather.
Over 700 villagers from Louital, Laos and Lounabaiu had to travel to the coast to get water because their water sources have dried up, Daniel Ben Talap, a resident and owner of the Blue Cave Tour conveyed.
“There hasn’t been any rain for several months,” he said.
“It’s normal for the area to experience low rainfall that can last for a long time but this year is the worst.
“The low rainfall has resulted in withered crops. A lot of cattle are also dying.
“People have to go fishing so that they can sell their fish at the market and buy food and water.
“I have been transporting villagers to nearby rivers to wash their clothes and to the coast to search for water coming out from the rocks.”
Mr Talap is appealing to the government and any humanitarian organisation to assist the people in north Tanna with food and water.
According to the Climatologist from the Vanuatu Meteorologist and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD), Kalo Abel, the whole island of Tanna is currently experiencing what is known as meteorological drought.
“This can affect pastures and livestock. The rainfall predicted for the next coming months will be low in the southern part of the country.
“Villagers are encouraged to report issues associated with the meteorological drought such as water shortage for authorities to address them,” he added.
The National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) said it did not receive any report about the water and food scarcity in north Tanna.
NDMO conveyed that it has received reports about water shortages only from communities in Aneityum and Efate.
CYCLONE Oma is slowing down and gathering strength as it sits off Vanuatu’s Santo for a third straight day.
The storm, still a category two, is about 295 kilometres west-southwest of the country’s largest island.
It has followed an unusual path and completed three loops off Santo’s western coast.
Because of this, the island has been lashed with torrential rains, strong storm surges and winds in excess of 100 kilometres an hour.
The Vanuatu Meteorological Service says Oma is proving difficult to forecast, but it is gradually moving southwest away from Vanuatu.
However, storm warnings are still in force for at least the next 24 hours.
The Meteo’s latest cyclone track map as at 9.12am Saturday, February 16.
Meanwhile, Sir Vanuatu has announced that it will resume all domestic flights as scheduled.
It said all ATR domestic services, flights to southern provinces and all international services will operate as scheduled this weekend.
“Our team are closely monitoring the weather situation and further updates will be provided as when they become available,” said a spokesman.
“Customers impacted by the recent flights suspensions are encouraged to reconfirm their flights and update their local contact details via MY BOOKING on www.airvanuatu.com or contact the Air Vanuatu Reservation team.”
Speaker Dr Jiko Luveni with other invited Speakers at the forum. Picture: SUPPLIED
FIJI, like many Pacific islands, faced the threat of several challenges that made it vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters.
This was highlighted by Fiji’s Speaker of Parliament Dr Jiko Luveni during the Second Eurasian Women’s Forum that was held in major convention centres and cultural venues in the historical centre of St. Petersburg, Russia, from September 19-21.
Dr Luveni was invited to attend the forum by the Federation Council Speaker, Valentina Matviyenko, which was organised by the Federation Council and the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Independent States (CIS), with support from several ministries, agencies and NGOs.
In her opening address, Dr Luveni said the effect of climate change disproportionately affected women and girls in Fiji.
She said women needed to have full political, economic and social participation that would ensure the notion of leaving no one behind towards Fiji’s pursuit for sustainable development.
She adds every nation should have a national plan to effectively address women’s issues.
Yesterday’s report that people refused to board an evacuation ship to Maewo only underlines the difficulty of communicating and supporting this massive and long-term relief effort.
Yet few of us are properly focused what is clearly becoming a crisis. People are everywhere on the issue. Some are vehement in their demands that we cover the slow-moving disaster more closely. Others tell us not to dwell on people’s misery. Some say they’re not being listened to. Others say they’re not speaking through proper channels.
Some people blamed a film crew for exacerbating the volcano when they walked to the summit of Mt Lombenben. They did perform a kastom ceremony and received permission from the chiefs of the village they departed from. It’s hard to accept, but it’s in the public interest.
We need to see exactly what’s happening on the island. The volume of ash accumulating on the summit can’t be adequately conveyed by colouring on a map. There will be trouble when the rains come, and people need to know this.
We have to be frank and honest about the situation. We also have to be inclusive.
A delegation of Ambaeans that came to the Daily Post office this week represented a significant number of people. No matter what their formal status, they need access to authorities in order to ensure that their concerns and ideas are being heard.
That’s happening, but not consistently. We sent a request to discuss this issue to the Prime Minister’s office, but received no response. Speaking informally, however, more than one high-ranking source has expressed impatience with people demanding to be heard. That’s understandable, but not helpful.
The government needs to be communicating more, not less. They need to be listening more, not less. They need to be offering more options, not fewer.
Yes, it’s difficult, and resources are already stretched, but it’s clear that the level of support being offered in Maewo is not sufficient to handle the few who are already there. The government’s own emergency response team recommended removing the children who are staying in Gambule and Nasawa schools. These medical professionals report that the children are undergoing a ‘traumatic experience’.
The discontent is only going to grow unless authorities focus more resources on the problem, and apply them with greater transparency. Confusion abounds. Reports have circulated of teachers being falsely informed that their salaries will be withheld if they don’t embark their students. Donated shipments of goods are reportedly sitting undelivered on the wharf. Witnesses tell us that even the government workers on the island are at their wits end.
In response to this, the government has issued a number of statements and directives. Some of these statements lack detail, some lack clarity, and many don’t address the numerous different alternatives being considered by Ambaeans.
Some islanders want to stay, and feel they can. Some want to leave, and return later. Some realise they’re never going home. There is no single solution. And there is no range of solutions that will please everybody all the time. There are some people who will have to be forced to accept a change in circumstances. It’s painful to say so, but it’s the simple truth.
The people and the government of Vanuatu have always excelled at helping each other out when times are tough. We know how to respond to immediate need.
But this crisis is entirely different from a cyclone, tsunami or earthquake. And it is clear that our response so far has been insufficient. That applies on all sides.
Ambaeans need to find a way to speak with a unified voice. That hasn’t happened yet.
The government needs to prepare a mandate to listen to that voice. The current communications channels are simply not working. There is a growing and disturbing amount of discontent surrounding this crisis. And regardless of the legal correctness of the current protocol, it’s not addressing some pretty important concerns.
For better or for worse, Maewo is simply not working as an alternative for too many Ambaeans. You can argue all you like about the whys and the wherefores. The reality is that it’s not sufficient to point to one location and refuse assistance to people seeking an alternative.
Everyone in this nation—media included—needs to stop acting like the frog in the boiling pot. We’ve got to accept that we’ve got a national crisis on our hands, and focus on coping with it.
Vanuatu Daily Post – An exclusive peek into the mouth of Ambae’s volcano. This image, exclusive to the Daily Post, was taken last week when a team trekked up to the summit of mount Lombenben and flew a drone directly over the smoking crater.
Ambae’s volcano up close
The team reported that the landscape on the summit and its approaches had been completely transformed by month’s of ashfall. All roads to west Ambae are cut. Massive mud flows have utterly erased the roads in two locations, the team reported. The entire west side of the island is now accessible only by sea or by air.
The team trekked eight hours to the summit, through a landscape made desolate by the volcano. They report widespread damage and massive disruption to the local population.
They will be presenting their findings to the National Disaster Management Unit later today. The Daily Post will be following up with extensive coverage of the disaster.
Songstress Vanessa Quai handing over cash to Chief Alicta Vuti witnessed by Nigel Quai (far left) and Team and Henry Vira (front right) and MP Aickson Vira (centre) and Chief John Tarilama. By Len Garae
Ambae’s own songstress Vanessa Quai and her Management Team have walked the talk and donated over Vt500,000 raised in the ‘Water for Ambae’ fundraiser at Moorings Hotel, to the Chairman of Ambae Port Vila Council of Chiefs, Chief Alicta Vuti who in turn handed the donation to the Head of Ambae Manaro Disaster Committee, Henry Vira.
While receiving the amount from Vanessa Quai witnessed by her Management Team including her father, Nigel Quai, the Port Vila Ambae Council of Chiefs Chairman thanked Vanessa Quai for the most generous giving to the Ambae Disaster Committee to help with water needs of the volcanic ash fall victims.
‘Music for nation building ‘is the theme that the Vanessa Quai management has embraced in its attempt to help ‘communities in need’ through music.
Member of Parliament for Ambae Constituency Alickson Vira, Deputy Chairman of PVACC Chief John Tarilama, Chief Michael Liu representing the Chiefs’ technical committee and Henry Vira echoed Chief Vuti’s sentiments and congratulated Vanessa Quai and her team for being a forerunner in the music industry for the last 20 years.
The event which was hosted at the Moorings Hotel was attended by over 200 people including MP Ralph Regenvanu, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, MP Andrew Napuat, Minister of Internal Affairs, and MP John Sala for Malekula Constituency. Supporting Acts to Vanessa’s ‘New Breedz’ band performance included Stan Antas of Stan & the Earth Force, Violinist Vanessa Organo Saxophonist Darrell Angalobani and Ambae’s own ‘Confliction’ band. Money raised will be used solely to support water access efforts on Ambae.
The event would not have been a success without the assistance of the following: Vanessa Quai Music Association, Life Changers, Moorings Hotel, Azure Natural Water, Tropik Zound, and everyone who assisted in selling tickets for the occasion.
This image from the EMT report shows words written by Ambaean students on Maewo, describing how they feel.
In a June situation report on conditions in the South Maewo emergency shelters obtained by the Daily Post this week, an emergency medical team urges the early return of children to their home island of Ambae.
Among the report’s recommendations: “Early repatriation in the next two or three weeks is highly advised to minimize mental health illness and enhance their recovery from this traumatic experience.”
The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives.”
Medical experts suggest that children in particular are suffering as a result of their dislocation from their home island.
Doctor Basil Leodoro, who headed the team, told the Daily Post, “From a mental health point of view, taking into consideration the available psychosocial support, the situation is critical.”
Asked by the assessment team to write about their emotional condition, many children wrote that they were ‘sad’, ‘sorry’, that they experienced ‘worry’, and that they were ‘lonely’ and ‘homesick’. A minority responded positively, using terms like ‘happy’, ‘excited’, and ‘fine’.
Some of these positive responses appear to mask negative feelings though. One paper states that the child feels ‘Happy, fine, sad’.
In their lists of the most positive aspects of the experience, children cited a nearby river, fresh fruit and produce, and the people of Maewo themselves.
The picture that emerges from the report is of an under-resourced and overstretched support network trying, along with the displaced, to make the best of a critical situation. According to sources with knowledge of the situation, travel and transport capacity is unacceptably poor. Food, they say, is being provided by local and paid for out of the local school budget. Sources told the Daily Post that NDMO supplies were non-existent.
Shelter, they added, was poor. Health care was being provided, however, and the local facility reportedly ran at about half its nominal capacity during the month of June.
But the report repeatedly cites ‘urgent’ needs. Among the top priorities are computer equipment for record keeping, a refrigeration unit, and the machinery and the cash necessary to pay for travel in south Maewo.
The team requests a small transport-capable truck, a 7-metre boat and engine, fuel and expenses for individual travel.
The four-person emergency medical team, dubbed Charlie Team 1 in the report, spent several days evaluating the situation about two weeks after the first children arrived in South Maewo. Students and staff together number well over 150.
Photographic evidence in the report suggests that children are sleeping on foam mattresses, either on cement floors or in tents.
Asked for suggestions on how to improve, respondents listed numerous basic necessities, including water, toilets, shelter, classroom space, communications, and commodities such as stationery and toilet paper.
But the report’s recommendations all centre around what has been described by experts as “clear signs of mental health detriment and deterioration from the experience”.
On Tuesday, the Geohazards unit of the Department of Climate Change issued an update on the status of the Ambae volcano. The Daily Post reported that “the volcano remains in a state of ‘major unrest’ (level 2)” and “the volcano is at a somewhat reduced level of activity, but it’s in a dynamic state.”
Fears of direct damage due to eruption have subsided for much of the island, but concerns remain about the effect heavy ash fall might have on local streams and creeks, especially after heavy rain.
The decision by President Donald Trump to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change has caused much concern across the Pacific. Pacific Island states are some of the most vocal advocates for aggressive carbon reduction targets, and the Paris Agreement had been welcomed at the time of its creation by Pacific Island states.
For many Pacific Island states, the current forecasts for rising sea levels due to climate change will severely impact their territory. For island states such a Tuvalu, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands, rising sea levels are a genuine and immediate existential threat. These island states exist on territory that rises only a few meters above sea level, at best. This means that any rise in the sea level, no matter how incremental, eats into their very limited landmass. The current predicted sea level rise of 2 meters by 2100 would mean an almost total submersion for these three states.
Other Pacific Island states will also be greatly affected. Five low-lying islands within the Solomon Island archipelago have already been submerged. Changes in both geographic features and water temperatures also have the potential to alter the fishing stocks that Pacific Islands states rely on for food security.
Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga was so concerned by Trump’s decision that he ordered his country’s officials to cancel any cooperation with the United States until Washington has a new climate change policy in place. In regards to Trump’s decision, Sopoaga stated: “I think it doesn’t make any sense to talk about any other thing if we don’t fix the problem of climate change… We are very, very distressed, I think this a very destructive, obstructive statement from a leader of perhaps the biggest polluter on earth and we are very disappointed as a small island country already suffering the effects of climate change.”The global, stateless, nature of the climate change phenomenon is keenly understood by Pacific Islands. With little capacity to stem this threat to their existence themselves, these countries rely on the big players to instigate reforms that might prevent more drastic warming of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and surfaces.
For Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, a man who has set himself up as the global champion of the interests of Pacific Island states, the decision was disappointing, but he remained hopeful international cooperation could still result, stating: “I did what I could — along with many leaders around the world — to try to persuade President Trump to remain standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us as we tackled the greatest challenge our planet has ever faced. While the loss of America’s leadership is unfortunate, this a struggle that is far from over.”
Trump’s decision came right before Fiji assumes the presidency of Conference of the Parties (COP), the annual forum for countries that signed up to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The forum will be held in Bonn, Germany from November 6-17 this year.
Fiji’s presidency is a historic event, as it is the first Small Island Developing State to hold the presidency. Fiji’s presidency was designed to highlight the problems that climate change is producing for Pacific Island states — not just rising sea levels, but more intense weather events causing severe destruction, like Cyclone Winston last year, which caused damage valued at 10 percent of the country’s GDP.
In his speech to the UN Climate Change Conference in May (a precursor to the COP23 forum in November), Bainimarama reaffirmed Fiji’s commitment to the goals and the implementation of the Paris Agreement. He outlined his vision that Fiji’s presidency of the COP would have the interests of small island states at its core, wishing to build a coalition of partners to help these states build greater resilience against rising sea levels and extreme weather events. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement severely undermines Bainimarama’s position, and Fiji’s prominent role in a major multilateral forum.
While Pacific Island leaders have been disappointed with Trump’s decision, that other major powers have reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris agreement will give them some solace. The recent India-Pacific Islands Sustainable Development Conference held in Suva, Fiji, is an indication that other significant powers have an understanding of the situation that Pacific Island states are in. The hope will be that the recalcitrance of the world’s major power will only be temporary, and a future administration will reaffirm its commitment to the Paris goals.
Five tiny Pacific islands have disappeared due to rising seas and erosion, a discovery thought to be the first scientific confirmation of the impact of climate change on coastlines in the Pacific, according to Australian researchers.
The submerged islands were part of the Solomon Islands, an archipelago that over the last two decades has seen annual sea levels rise as much as 10mm (0.4in), according to research published in the May issue of the online journal Environmental Research Letters.
The missing islands, ranging in size from 1 to 5 hectares (2.5-12.4 acres) were not inhabited by humans.
But six other islands had large swaths of land washed into the sea and on two of those, entire villages were destroyed and people forced to relocate, the researchers found.
One was Nuatambu island, home to 25 families, which has lost 11 houses and half its inhabitable area since 2011, the research said.
The study is the first that scientifically “confirms the numerous anecdotal accounts from across the Pacific of the dramatic impacts of climate change on coastlines and people,” the researchers wrote in a separate commentary on an academic website.
The scientists used aerial and satellite images dating back to 1947 of 33 islands, as well as traditional knowledge and radiocarbon dating of trees for their findings.
The Solomon Islands, a nation made up of hundreds of islands and with a population of about 640,000, lies about 1,000 miles north-east of Australia.
The study raises questions about the role of government in relocation planning, said a Solomon Islands official.
Map of Nuatambu Island.
“This ultimately calls for support from development partners and international financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund,” Melchior Mataki, head of the Solomon Islands’ National Disaster Council, was quoted as saying in the commentary.
The Green Climate Fund, part of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was founded to help countries deal with climate change.
Ad hoc relocation has occurred on the islands, the study said. Several Nuatambu islanders moved to a neighbouring, higher volcanic island, the study said. Other people were forced to move from the island of Nararo.
Sirilo Sutaroti, 94, is among those who had to relocate from Nararo. He told researchers: “The sea has started to come inland, it forced us to move up to the hilltop and rebuild our village there away from the sea.”
New research factors in collapsing Antarctic ice sheet that could double the sea-level rise to two metres by 2100 if emissions are not cut
Antarctica’s snowfall was expected to keep the ice sheet in balance but it is less stable than previously thought. Photograph: Steve Mandel / Barcroft Media
Sea levels could rise far more rapidly than expected in coming decades, according to new research that reveals Antarctica’s vast ice cap is less stable than previously thought.
The UN’s climate science body had predicted up to a metre of sea level rise this century – but it did not anticipate any significant contribution from Antarctica, where increasing snowfall was expected to keep the ice sheet in balance.
According a study, published in the journal Nature, collapsing Antarctic ice sheets are expected to double sea-level rise to two metres by 2100, if carbon emissions are not cut.
Previously, only the passive melting of Antarctic ice by warmer air and seawater was considered but the new work added active processes, such as the disintegration of huge ice cliffs.
“This [doubling] could spell disaster for many low-lying cities,” said Prof Robert DeConto, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who led the work. He said that if global warming was not halted, the rate of sea-level rise would change from millimetres per year to centimetres a year. “At that point it becomes about retreat [from cities], not engineering of defences.”
As well as rising seas, climate change is also causing storms to become fiercer, forming a highly destructive combination for low-lying cities like New York, Mumbai and Guangzhou. Many coastal cities are growing fast as populations rise and analysis by World Bank and OECD staff has shown that global flood damage could cost them $1tn a year by 2050 unless action is taken.
The cities most at risk in richer nations include Miami, Boston and Nagoya, while cities in China, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Ivory Coast are among those most in danger in less wealthy countries.
“The bad news is that in the business-as-usual, high-emissions scenario, we end up with very, very high estimates of the contribution of Antarctica to sea-level rise” by 2100, DeConto told the Guardian. But he said that if emissions were quickly slashed to zero, the rise in sea level from Antarctic ice could be reduced to almost nothing.
“This is the good news,” he said. “It is not too late and that is wonderful. But we can’t say we are 100% out of the woods.” Even if emissions are slashed, DeConto said, there remains a 10% chance that sea level will rise significantly.
Prof David Vaughan, at the British Antarctic Survey and not part of the research team, said: “The new model includes for the first time a projection of how in future, the Antarctic ice sheet may to lose ice through processes that today we only see occurring in Greenland.
“I have no doubt that on a century to millennia timescale, warming will make these processes significant in Antarctica and drive a very significant Antarctic contribution to sea level rise. The big question for me is, how soon could this all begin. I’m not sure, but these guys are definitely asking the right questions.”
Active physical processes are well-known ways of breaking up ice sheets but had not been included in complex 3D models of the Antarctic ice sheet before. The processes include water from melting on the surface of the ice sheet to flow down into crevasses and widen them further. “Meltwater can have a really deleterious effect,” said DeConto. “It’s an attack on the ice sheet from above as well as below.”
Today, he said, summer temperatures approach or just exceed freezing point around Antarctica: “It would not take much warming to see a pretty dramatic increase [in surface melting] and it would happen very quickly.”
The new models also included the loss of floating ice shelves from the coast of Antarctica, which currently hold back the ice on land. The break-up of ice shelves can also leave huge ice cliffs 1,000m high towering over the ocean, which then collapse under their own weight, pushing up sea level even further.
The scientists calibrated their model against geological records of events 125,000 years ago and 3m years ago, when the temperature was similar to today but sea level was much higher.
Sea-level rise is also driven by the expansion of water as it gets warmer and in January scientists suggested this factor had been significantly underestimated, adding further weight to concerns about future rises.
