A DEADLY Pacific cyclone intensified as it hit Vanuatu today, threatening a natural disaster that experts fear will undermine the impoverished Pacific nation’s battle to remain coronavirus-free.

Tropical Cyclone Harold, which claimed 27 lives when it swept through the Solomon Islands last week, strengthened to a scale-topping Category Five superstorm overnight, said Vanuatu’s meteorology service.

The cyclone is now packing winds of up to 235kph, prompting red alerts across several provinces.

It made landfall on the remote east coast of Espiritu Santo Island today, and is heading directly for Vanuatu’s second-largest town of Luganville, which has a population of 16,500.

The slow-moving storm is expected to pass north of the capital, Port Vila, early tomorrow.

Officials warned residents in the nation of 300,000 to expect flash floods, and said ships should stay in port or risk facing huge swells.

Another concern is the impact that a large natural disaster could have on Vanuatu’s attempts to remain one of the world’s few countries without any reported Covid-19 infections.

Vanuatu has virtually sealed off its international borders to avoid the virus, but emergency measures such as bans on public meetings have been temporarily suspended to allow people to gather at evacuation centres. 

“The focus was more on Covid-19, and now, we have moved our focus to preparedness for the cyclone,” Vanuatu Red Cross disaster coordinator Augustine Garae told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“We understand that some people in some communities are not really well prepared.”

Widespread destruction

A major international relief effort was needed the last time a Category Five storm, Cyclone Pam, hit the country in 2015.

If a similar operation is needed in the wake of Harold, it would run the risk of importing Covid-19 to a nation that lacks the health infrastructure to deal with even a mild outbreak.

“There have been no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Vanuatu, but a significant disaster at this time could present serious logistical challenges to delivering life-saving aid,” said Oxfam’s Vanuatu director, Elizabeth Faerua.

Pam flattened Port Vila, killed 11 people and left a swathe of destruction that the World Bank estimated wiped out almost two-thirds of the nation’s economic capacity.

Harold has already caused widespread damage in the Solomon Islands, where an inter-island ferry ignored weather warnings and 27 people were washed off its decks.

Solomons police yesterday said the bodies of five passengers from the MV Taimareho have been recovered, with the search resuming today. – AFP, April 6, 2020.