This project will enable IsraAID to continue to distribute basic food and supplies to remote islands in Vanuatu, essentially saving the lives of thousands who have no access to food or clean water. The project will also include Psycho-Social Services (PSS) and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programming to help populations cope, as well as potentially Medical Teams to mitigate health concerns resulting from the disaster
On Friday the 13th of March 2015, Tropical Cyclone Pam lashed down on Vanuatu with category 5 conditions. 90% of structures were destroyed, and a large majority of residents were left homeless and with no access to food or clean water. This project will seek to fill gaps in aid distributions / recovery plans for those remote islands in Vanuatu that have not received adequate support yet.
IsraAID deployed its Emergency Response Team (ERT) to the area, and has been coordinating with the government, international organizations, and UN agencies to identify and meet needs in the areas of a)basic food and water, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), psych-social services (PSS), livelihood recovery, and community medical services. Specifically the organization has so far been responding on the island of Tongoa, and was the first to distribute supplies there
Initial efforts are focusing on the immediate survival of those without access to food, clean water, or medical services. At the same time, IsraAID's ERT is performing needs assessments to focus efforts on long-term recovery via agriculture, fishery, and water infrastructure, as well as capacity-building in the field of psycho-social services (PSS) to increase coping mechanisms and resilience after tragic events such as Cyclone Pam.
