Situation Background
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The island nation of Vanuatu declared a State of Emergency (SOE) on 5 March 2023 for the whole country after it had experienced two cyclones and an earthquake. The strong winds and substantial rain caused major flooding, damage to infrastructure, and caused power outages and communication system breakdowns across the country. Current priorities are restoring energy/power, communication systems, transport systems, and shelter.
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As of 10 March 2023, the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) in Port Vila reported some 251,346 people (about 80% of the population) and 30,000 households in all six provinces in Vanuatu had been exposed to the impacts of the cyclones. Authorities are assessing the full extent of damages.
National Coordination
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The NDMO leads the response's overall logistics operations under the national cluster system. The Pacific Logistics Cluster (PLC) co-leads and provides logistics coordination and information management.
o Upstream coordination: The NDMO requests partners for a detailed list of relief items before they arrive in the country, along with a distribution plan to be submitted to logs.neoc.ndmo@gmail.com. In parallel, the PLC is consolidating pipeline information already received from partners and will share it with the National Cluster Lead. Still, partners are urged to notify NDMO directly as well.
o Downstream coordination: The NDMO is also coordinating requests for logistics assistance to access Australian and French in-country transportation capacities. NDMO established focal points for coordinating logistics planning, asset mobilisation, and authorizations. All requests for logistics assistance from agencies responding to the emergency, such as storage, cargo and passenger transportation, procurement, and labour support, must be submitted to the National Cluster Leads first, who will then forward the requests to the NDMO focal points: https://logcluster.org/document/pacificvanuatu-national-cluster-leads-15-march-2023
Logistics Constraints
Road
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As per the NDMO’s Infrastructure and Transportation Cluster report on 20 March 2023, 10% of the arterial road network in largely three out of six provinces remain inaccessible (Penama, Malampa, and Shefa). Road conditions may be difficult on rural routes and regional highways in parts of Vanuatu.
Air -
Deployment by air to outer islands is limited under the current situation and requires regulatory approval for some airports, while some airports remain non-operational. See the maps below per the Situation Report from the Vanuatu Infrastructure and Transportation Cluster from 20 March 2023.