Government committed to transparency with relief supplies

The office of the prime minister says it is committed to transparency and the free flow of information during this crisis period.

“We do not want the people of Vanuatu or other people to be anxious because they do not know what is happening or have heard rumours that have caused them to worry. On that basis, we are publicising the following information,” a government statement reads.

The summary of the reasons for the government’s action action includes: Government’s commitment to transparency, Government structures to support and direct work of NDMO and EOC, Aid agencies are working together through government systems, structures allow for coordination and transparency, assistance from overseas is best directed through the agencies that are part of these structures, response clusters have been established, initial assessments and distribution of food to evacuation centres, assessments of outer islands have been conducted and the data is being collated by NDMO to inform distribution, the most affected areas of the country are Shefa, Tafea, Penama and eastern Malampa, communications are continuing to be a challenge, role of provincial disaster committees, and response to the Shepherds group

Prior to the passage of Cyclone Pam, the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) had a very small resource base, comprising only 8 staff.

As an initial part of the response, the Council of Ministers mandated that the Director Generals of the five central ministries (Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Ministry of Finance and Economic Management, the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade and the Ministry of Climate Change) move to support the NDMO.

“The following structure is now in place and functioning to provide process, coordination and transparency in relation to all of the relief and rehabilitation activities that will be required in the wake of Cyclone Pam,” the government statement continues.

The Council of Ministers has mandated this structure with the Central Agencies (see below) in overall command.

They direct the Central Agencies (see above) and Jotham Napat (DG of the Ministry of Climate Change) as Chair of the National Disaster Committee. This grouping is assisted by Director Benjamin Shing (Prime Minister’s Office).

On March 16th, this high-level group called a meeting of all Director Generals and Directors to coordinate a number of response clusters including Water & Sanitary Health (WASH), Gender and Protection and Food Security and Agriculture.

The above group directs the activities of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), within which the Vanuatu Humanitarian Team operates.

There are numerous activities undertaken by the EOC including data collection & entry, aerial assessments, logistical coordination, communications, etc.

This structure will allow us to do a number of things. First it facilitates a more coordinated approach to assessment of what needs are present, mobilisation of our own resources and integration of assistance received from other countries. It also allows us to operate in a way that is transparent and helps us to be accountable to the people of Vanuatu and to our donors.

The structure we have established is functioning well. We are very appreciative of the fact that all of the aid agencies who are working with us are accepting of and working within government structures. This means that we are not competing and we are minimising duplication.

We very much welcome and are grateful for all offers of assistance from individuals and organisations across the world and in order to help us best please direct it through our partners (including NGOs and UN organisations) who are part of this structure.

Further to initial assessments of the 48 evacuation centres, there has been some distribution of food supplies by the NDMO, with a particular focus on supporting children.

NDMO has undertaken initial assessments (including aerial assessments) across the country. The data provided by these assessments is in the process of being tabulated and collated in order to inform the distribution process. Flights to outer islands that have taken place so far have been for assessment purposes only.

The assessments indicate that the areas most affected are Shefa, Tafea, Penama and the eastern part of Malampa.

A lack of communications has hampered activities so far and remains a challenge for NDMO and associated agencies.

The provincial disaster committees have been active since the passage of Cyclone Pam. Most of them now have access to satellite phones (which sit with the Secretary-Generals) and they can now transmit information that they collect direct to the NDMO. This means that our assessments are constantly being updated to include this information as it comes to hand.

Response to the Shepherds group requires access to larger helicopters than we have here currently. This equipment is expected to arrive in country very soon. Similarly there are challenges associated with landing on some airfields that cannot accommodate larger aircraft.

The number of shelter kits that will be distributed has been calculated on the following basis. In the 2009 census, there were 67,000 households recorded. We have applied a growth rate of 2.3% to arrive at a base number of 68,541 households and we are designating that each household comprises 5 people. Based on what we know we are deeming that 70% of households have been affected.