Cyclone Pam

The Pasifika Medical Association conference was officially opened today in Port Vila by the president of Vanuatu, Father Baldwin Lonsdale.

The president of PMA, Kiki Maoate, says many people were affected psychologically by Cyclone Pam, and the mental recovery process is ongoing.

Dr Maoate says the conference will allow participants to share their experiences on dealing with mental health issues.

The Premier Toke Talagi handed over a cheque for US$6,300 to his Tuvalu counterpart, Enele Sopoaga, during the recent Pacific Forum summit.

Niue has very close links with Tuvalu, with a number of Tuvalu nationals living on the island.

One senior business executive was at Auckland Airport on his way to the World Conference – preparing to advocate the merits of disaster resilience to his fellow executives – when news of the disaster prompted him to ditch his talking points, switch his ticket, and dash to guide his company’s recovery on the ground in Vanuatu.

Within 48 hours, instead of speaking to delegates in Sendai, the Chairman of the Board of Directors Digicel Samoa, Pepe Christian Fruean, was in Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila as part of the telecommunications company’s emergency deployment.

Six months after Cyclone Pam hit the Pacific, the bank approved the additional grant to support Tuvalu's medium-term recovery efforts.

Almost half of Tuvalu's 10,000 people were affected by the category 5 cyclone, which caused massive destruction as it passed in March, before continuing southwest to Vanuatu.

The system caused an estimated 10 million dollars worth of damages or more than 30 percent of the country's GDP.

The Northern Marianas College says there are 18 buildings in different phases of disrepair.

The college president, Dr Sharon Hart, says of the buildings that sustained damage, about four are inoperable, including the gym, which sustained damage to its roof and floor.

However, the College's director of external relations, Frankie Eliptico, says most of the classrooms were spared, and there's a huge effort by staff to return things to normal.