Winds from a cyclone that blew through the Pacific's Vanuatu archipelago were beginning to less powerful Saturday, causing destruction and reports of dozens of deaths as relief workers rushed to the damage.
Chloe Morrison, a World Vision emergency communications officer who is in Port Vila, said the capital's streets were filled with roofs blown from homes, fallen trees and broken power lines. She said she’s hearing reports of entire villages being destroyed in more remote areas. She said there is no power or running water in the capital and that communication remains unreliable.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the influence of the disaster caused by Cyclone Pam wasn't yet clear, but he feared the damage and destruction could be widespread. "We hope the loss of life will be small," he said during a World Conference on Disaster Risk and Reduction in Japan. The U.N. said it was preparing to send emergency rapid response units. The president of Vanuatu, Baldwin Lonsdale, who was attending the conference, told participants: "I do not really know what impact the cyclone has had on Vanuatu. I am speaking to you today with a heart that is so heavy," he said. "I stand to appeal on behalf of the government and the people to give a helping hand in this disaster."
Morrison said the winds seemed to peak between midnight and 1 a.m. Saturday. She said she was in a fully cyclone-proof house but still spent a frightening night as a tree and a tin roof from a nearby home hit her house.
Australia was preparing to send a crisis response team to Vanuatu if needed, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said. "There are destructive winds, rain, flooding, landslides and very rough seas and the storm is destructive there," she said. "We stand ready to assist."
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