Beyond Cyclone Pam: identifying Vanuatu’s strengths and needs

While extreme weather events such as Cyclone Pam are not unexpected in the Pacific, climate change poses devastating challenges for countries like Vanuatu by further altering the patterns of tropical cyclones in coming years.

Providing disaster response in a country with more than 80 islands and a population of 262,691 people – 80% of whom live rural and subsistence lifestyles – is challenging and complex. Vanuatu’s future disaster response needs to build on strengths of the existing system – for example, the institutional structures of response – and tackle gaps, such as the overstretched health sector.

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Source: The Conversation