Displaying items by tag: Vanuatu

Cyclone Harold, a category 5 cyclone, hit the Pacific nation of Vanuatu on 6 and 7 April, ripping off roofs and downing telecommunications across large parts of the north and west of the country as it tries to fight the coronavirus outbreak. There have been hurricane-force winds, heavy rainfall, flash flooding, properties flattened, and trees torn down. Luganville, with a population of 16,000, was ravaged. Communications to Vanuatu’s two largest islands are cut. Vanuatu is in a state of emergency, with borders closed to international arrivals, a curfew, and gatherings of more than five people banned. Some restrictions were lifted to allow people to gather at mass evacuation centres (see) On 8 April Harold flattened homes and flooded towns in Fiji. Emergency officials are scrambling to establish communication with outlying islands. Harold killed dozens in the Solomon Islands before destroying Vanuatu, and is expected to hit Tonga within days.

Since 23 September, 122,500 people have been evacuated to locations outside a 7.5-mile exclusion area around Bali's Mount Agung volcano. The magma has been rising closer to its surface, as indicated by hundreds of daily tremors. The volcano, two miles above sea level, usually attracts hikers, tourists and pilgrims. Hundreds of volunteers have been deployed, according to the International Red Cross; they, and officials, are combing the area, urging villagers to evacuate, and raising warning banners around the exclusion zone. Additionally, on 27 September Mount Sinabung exploded, spewing ash 2.5km into the air over the island of Sumatra, and Vanuatu has ordered an island to be evacuated because of another volcano threat. See and