Last Friday, 13 March, the President of the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu travelled to Japan to attend the third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction which opened the following day.  For most of Friday and Saturday cyclone Pam pummelled the Vanuatu nation. Sixty-five of Vanuatu’s islands are inhabited by small communities; a total 260,000 people live in flimsy homes built mostly of thatch. Reports from islands so far visited reveal everything flattened and thousands of families made homeless. A state of emergency has been declared. Yesterday the conference on Disaster Risk Reduction ended. We can pray that decisions made concerning workable guidance on reducing mortality and economic losses from disasters will be successfully implemented for those recovering from Cyclone Pam.