Observations on Pentecost Island following Cyclone Pam

Observations on Pentecost Island following
Cyclone Pam
Andrew Gray, 31 March 2015

Summary
In North Pentecost, there is modest damage to gardens but otherwise very little storm
damage. In Central Pentecost, damage to buildings and the landscape is mainly confined to
high and exposed locations. The damage becomes increasingly severe towards the south of the
island, with the state of the far south of Pentecost (to judge by aerial observations and witness
accounts) approaching that of badly-affected locations further south such as Southeast
Ambrym and Paama, though not as bad as Efate.

Everyone throughout Pentecost expresses concern about medium-term food shortages, and
inability to pay school fees due to damage to cash crops. Damage to the kava crop in
particular could devastate the island’s economy for as much as four years, with dramatic
implications for education and the general standard of living. Although in the short term
Pentecost has not been among the islands most dramatically affected by Cyclone Pam, the
island’s particular dependence on a slow-growing cash crop means that the long-term
economic impact of the cyclone could be worse on Pentecost than elsewhere in Vanuatu.

Background
I conducted crop and livestock damage assessment workshops approved by the National Disaster
Management Office in the northernmost parts of Pentecost (Ahivo, Aute, Lolkasai) on 25 and 26th
March 2015, then hiked via the north-east and centre of the island to the south-west. I did not reach
the far south and east, reportedly the worst-affected areas. Along the way I had a number of
conversations with people including agricultural workers, school principals, chiefs, councillors and
random strangers in nakamals.

Buildings and infrastructure
In the north of the island there is only very minor damage to buildings and infrastructure. Damage to
a few houses is reported at two villages in particularly exposed locations in the northwest. Low-lying
villages along the northwest and northeast coasts (Laone, Loltong, Nambwarangiut, Renbura) are
remarkably unaffected, with even buildings right on the shore virtually unscathed. The gigantic
nakamal being constructed by the Turaga kastom movement at Lavatmanggemu is undamaged.

In the centre of the island a few buildings in particularly exposed locations have been damaged. A
nakamal at Tansip partially collapsed in the cyclone, and there are unconfirmed reports of 20
damaged buildings at Enkul. There are also reports of severe building damage at Vanrasini, on a
hillside overlooking the east coast.

Damaged nakamal at Tansip

Along the southwest coast, unlike in the north, there were obvious signs of incursion by the sea, with
large chunks carved out of beaches and damage to coastal vegetation. However, villages along this
coast are set back from the sea so there was hardly any damage to houses.

Beach erosion in front of Noda Guesthouse, Waterfall Village

Photos from Panngi in the southwest show the jetty destroyed (which will impair tourism but not
local shipping, which mostly lands directly on the beach) and some damage to buildings.

There are unconfirmed reports of severe building damage in the remote far south and south-east,
both due to the sea (e.g. at Bay Barrier) and on hillsides (e.g. at Londar and Bay Martelli).

Transport and communications
The main north-south vehicle road is clear and passable. Teams from the Department of Public
Works happened to be in the south-west carrying out road improvements at the time of the cyclone,
and they were able to ensure that the road in this area was quickly cleared (although their extraction
of building materials may have exacerbated the storm erosion on certain beaches). Their road
improvement works are still progressing as planned. Fallen trees had blocked some minor roads and
paths, but many have now been cleared, and blocked roads were not a major complaint in any of the
areas I visited.

The communities in the east and far south of the island that are believed to be worst-affected by the
cyclone have never been accessible by vehicle road, except at Ranwas, where the road is reportedly
washed-out in places and impassable. Plans are being made to use helicopters for emergency food
relief to these areas.

The interruption of inter-island shipping during the cyclone left stores unable to receive goods and
farmers unable to send cash crops to Vila and Santo. This caused significant, but not critical,
shortages of fuel and imported foods. Shipping has now resumed and stores are gradually being
restocked, although there is a backlog of deliveries to be fulfilled.

Lonorore and Sara airports are now operating as normal.

Mobile phone communications now work in much of the island, and a team was going around fixing
the remaining damaged towers. Frustration was expressed at the fact that Bwatnapni, the primary
drop-off point for aid supplies, is a notoriously bad spot for mobile reception, which hampered efforts
to co-ordinate distribution.

Agriculture and economy
Everyone everywhere on the island expressed serious concern about damage to gardens. In the north
the damage may be confined to vulnerable crops (e.g. bananas) and vulnerable locations, but in the
south and reportedly in the east, gardens are devastated. Since villagers often have gardens on
hillsides some distance away from their homes, even residents of villages that are themselves
sheltered and undamaged may suffer severe garden damage. People are upset that initial aerial
surveys in the aftermath of the cyclone, from which it is not possible to see much of the garden
damage, led authorities to falsely conclude that Pentecost had survived the storm relatively
unscathed.

The full extent of damage to Pentecost’s gardens will be known when crop and livestock assessments
have been completed, but here are some initial observations, backed up by conversations with farmers
and with Gaetan Tevi of the agricultural research station at Lolvatu in North Pentecost…

Tall crops like bananas and sugarcane have been flattened almost everywhere. Bananas, though not
a staple, are a significant local food source. Fruit survives in sheltered locations.

Island taro, the most prominent staple food on Pentecost, has reportedly suffered severe damage.
Already-mature taro will remain edible for some weeks, but immature plants that have suffered wind
damage will fail to develop properly, their tubers becoming tough and inedible. Growers are already
replanting, and regrowing will take 6-12 months, depending on the taro variety; in the meantime there
may be a need for ongoing food aid. Fijian taro is cyclone-resistant but is less widely grown on
Pentecost. (One angry housewife told me that she’d planted a patch of Fijian taro only to have it
pulled up by her husband who wanted space to plant the island taro that he was more familiar with!)

The fate of the annual yam harvest which begins in May is uncertain, but people expect significant
losses where vines have been broken by the wind. A variety known locally as ‘wild yam’ is cyclone-
resistant but again is not grown in large quantities.

Island cabbage has been flattened. Some of the leaves are still green and edible, but these will not
last long. Availability of green vegetables over the next two or three months is a major concern.
Supplies of seeds for replanting fast-growing vegetables such as Chinese cabbage would be welcome,
along with advice on how to grow them (the instructions on the backs of seed packets are not always
easy to follow!). A few individuals have already received seeds from family members and well-wishers
elsewhere.

The main cash crop is kava; Pentecost produces over 40% of the kava drunk in Port Vila, and Central
Pentecost has the highest concentration of kava farming anywhere in Vanuatu (or probably the
world). Kava plants survive in sheltered locations, such as where intercropped with food plants in

valleys, but most of the kava grown in large quantities for sale is planted on hillsides, where damage is
reportedly severe. The kava variety grown for export on Pentecost, boroguu, takes five years to
mature. Already-mature plants that have been broken by the wind will remain harvestable for a
couple of months before rotting. Opinion seems to differ on whether very young kava plants can
recover from wind damage, but it is generally agreed that plants two years older or more cannot.
Thus, if the cyclone damage to kava is as severe as reported, islanders could lose their main source
of cash income for the next four years. (They might also suffer in five years’ time when large areas
of replanted kava reach maturity at the same time and glut the market.)

Damaged navia (umbrella leaf taro) and kava growing on a ridge in north-west Pentecost

The far north of Pentecost, where there is no spare land for growing kava, specialises in the rearing of
large pigs, which have to be specially fed as they would damage their valuable tusks if allowed to
forage. People in the north worry that they will now not have enough food to keep their pigs healthy
(contrary to popular belief, at times of food shortage local farmers prioritise the feeding of their wives
and children over their pigs). Some people in the north rely on money from the sale of these pigs to
pay school fees.

The plants and trees that the islanders rely on for building materials have also suffered a certain
degree of damage, though have not been wiped out. Vegetation in sheltered parts of the north and
west looks almost normal except for a few fallen trees and broken branches, but vegetation damage
becomes progressively more evident as you move south. In south-central Pentecost, many trees on the
higher slopes (e.g. above Melsisi and Ranwadi) are visibly brown and defoliated, and in the far south
(observed from the air) such damage extends down to sea level. The damage may be more visible now
than it was in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, as broken vegetation has now had time to
wither.

Browned vegetation on the ridge overlooking Melsisi

The southern end of Pentecost from the air - not its usual green colour

Water
Pentecost has high rainfall and is generally well-watered compared with other islands, but inland
communities are highly dependent on a small number of tanks to collect this rainwater. (In many
coastal areas there are piped water systems fed by mountain springs, which are still running fine.) The
cyclone rendered some rainwater tanks temporarily unusable by washing dirt into them or damaging
the metal roofs that feed them (e.g. at Tanbok). Unseasonably dry weather following the cyclone has
made matters worse. However, shortage of clean water did not seem to be a desperate issue in any of
the communities I visited.

Out-of-action water tank at Tanbok School, where the roof that fed water into the tank has blown away

At the workshop in Ahivo (the northernmost district) complaints about water supplies were noted,
but to some extent these problems predate the cyclone. Water purification tablets have been made
available to people in this area who are concerned about dirty tanks.

Tourism
Though a few individuals and communities have profited from land-diving, tourism is not a major
source of income for most people on Pentecost.

Village guesthouses at Waterfall, Loltong and probably elsewhere are open and eager for business,
and the cyclone has not made these locations any less attractive.

At the time of writing, it was planned for commercial land-diving at Lonorore to go ahead during the
April-June season this year, but construction of the land-diving tower has not yet started, having been
delayed due to mourning activities following a (non-cyclone-related) death, and there have been calls
for this year’s land-diving to be abandoned. With so many tourists cancelling trips to Vanuatu it is
hard to see them having a worthwhile season.

Education
At most locations in North and Central Pentecost, school buildings have suffered only minor damage.
However, at Tanbok School, which consists of lightly-constructed metal buildings on an exposed
mountainside at one of the highest inhabited points of the island, several buildings have been
destroyed. Some classes are currently being carried out in makeshift shelters constructed from
materials salvaged from the collapsed classrooms. There is an immediate need for tarpaulins to
weatherproof these, and a long-term need for more durable school buildings. Books have also suffered
water damage, some irreparably.

Destroyed classroom at Tanbok School, and a temporary shelter now being used

Serious damage to school buildings is also reported from some locations in south Pentecost such as
Panngi.

Schooling has suffered relatively little interruption in the short-term following the cyclone, but in the
longer-term damage to cash crops will leave many families unable to pay school fees, which would
result in children being withdrawn from school and/or schools being unable to pay their bills. This is
widely cited as the biggest concern on Pentecost. At Melsisi a formal petition was presented to local
MP and government minister Charlot Salwai asking for relief from paying school fees for the next two
terms. Despite previous broken promises from local politicians concerning free schooling, people
seem hopeful that the government will listen to their pleas and find a way to cancel their school fees.
Though the focus is on the immediate future, damage to kava crops could leave families unable to pay
for schooling for several years (see above). The idea of channelling some food relief through schools
has also been widely suggested.

Organisation and disaster relief
After several years without a major natural disaster (a long time in Vanuatu!), Pentecost was poorly
prepared for one. The Penama president laments that his province, unlike others, lacks a provincial
disaster office, and ‘disaster committees’ that were set up in local communities following previous
disasters are no longer functional. Traditional forms of resilience such as planting cyclone-resistant
crops and producing preserved foods such as mara (salted breadfruit paste) for times of hunger have
been largely abandoned, presumably following the experience of previous cyclones in which victims
were able to survive off imported rice. Agricultural officer Gaetan Tevi hopes to encourage
communities to plant ‘disaster gardens’ containing resistant crops so that food supplies are not
endangered by further disasters.

When Chief Viraleo, self-appointed leader of a dubious ‘kastom government’ based in the north-east
of Pentecost with scattered followers across the island, was asked tongue-in-cheek whether there was
a ‘kastom disaster management office’, he responded that in kastom there was no need for one
because of traditional resilience strategies. His latest fanciful scheme, to found a ‘kastom town’ in one
of Vanuatu’s most unsuitable locations, is going ahead unaffected by the storm. His community
eschew imported foods, and when asked what they would do if offered emergency rice, the chief
responded that they would sell it to non-kastom communities.

Emergency food rations for every individual on the island, intended to last 15 days, arrived on
Pentecost on Saturday 28th and have now been distributed to the island’s four area councils, from
which they are now being distributed to council wards and in turn households. People are grateful for

this and approve of the fact that is being distributed through a clear process which follows official
channels and does not leave distribution at the discretion of individual chiefs or politicians. There was
initially concern about the National Disaster Management Office and the provincial government not
co-ordinating their activities, but this is now being remedied.

Now that inter-island shipping has resumed, some families and communities have also received
support packages from relatives in town and overseas.

The Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Internal Affairs visiting their constituents at
Atavtabangga School (North Pentecost)

Activities on Pentecost take place amid a complicated tangle of community, party, chiefly, provincial
and national politics, and there is extreme suspicion all round that disaster relief will not be
distributed fairly. Three of Vanuatu’s government ministers, and the Penama provincial president, all
happen to be from Pentecost. There is a hope among local people that this will ensure Pentecost gets
the attention it needs, but it also raises the risk that disaster relief activities on Pentecost will become
politicised. WorldVision and ADRA, the two NGOs overseeing disaster relief on Pentecost, have their
bases among communities in particular parts of the island and are not trusted to be impartial either.

The strong culture of respect for authority occasionally hampers the ability to respond quickly and
flexibly to a situation (during one incident I witnessed, which was thankfully resolved, it became
apparent that people would rather allow food aid to a quarter of the island to be delayed than risk
showing disrespect by making Sunday evening phone calls to officials who might be able to solve a
problem), but can be put to good use in ensuring that procedures are followed when they need to be.
There is a strong feeling that any disaster response should be government-led, even if the resources
and expertise are coming from elsewhere, and the perception of NGOs dictating procedures to
government officials has caused offence; some people complain of lack of respect. On the other hand,
many people also complain that local government officials left to their own devices are not always
effective at getting their jobs done!

People are somewhat awed when told of the scale of the international response to the disaster, and
many expressed gratitude. I have heard the word “thank” (viah or biah in Central Pentecost language)
used in ways that I hadn’t even realised were grammatically possible.