Vanuatu: a brave nation responds to the storm

As they respond to the effects of severe tropical Cyclone Pam, residents of the small but amazing island nation of Vanuatu are showing the world how to cope with adversity. Pam has been described widely as a ‘monster cyclone’. The system, one of the strongest ever to make landfall, packed wind gusts of over 300kph and destroyed the homes of 75,000 people. With such a ferocious battering, the most remarkable thing about Cyclone Pam is that so few people died. The Vanuatu government estimates there were 11 fatalities. Clearly most people knew what to do and where to be when the cyclone hit.

To understand how Vanuatu deals with disasters, we have to understand a little of the country. Vanuatu is a unique nation. With over one hundred indigenous languages, the country is a family of communities scattered across 80-plus islands. While many people are moving to the ‘bright lights’ of the capital, the vast majority live in rural villages. They generally make their homes from local materials, and derive their livelihoods from gardens, from the reef and from the fruits of the forest. The country is one of few places in the world where the traditional economy still plays a greater role in peoples’ lives than the cash market.

http://devpolicy.org/vanuatu-a-brave-nation-responds-to-the-storm-20150…