SUPER CYCLONE PAM : AIRSOURCE RESPONDS

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SUPER CYCLONE PAM : AIRSOURCE RESPONDS

Postby AS37 Norm Edwards » 15 Mar 2015 14:22

A terrifying tropical cyclone which smashed into Vanuatu in the South Pacific wreaked widespread devastation, aid agencies said Saturday, raising fears that dozens may have died in what may be one of the region's worst weather disasters.

The full extent of the damage is unknown, with limited communications in place after Super Cyclone Pam, a maximum category five storm, slammed directly into the island country late Friday with gusts up to 320 kilometres (200 miles) an hour.

The UN had unconfirmed reports of 44 people dead in one province, and said late Saturday that there was no clear number of deaths or injuries but that the impact of the cyclone had been "catastrophic".

"A disaster of this magnitude has not been experienced by Vanuatu in recent history -- particularly in terms of the reach of the potential damage and the ferocity of the storm," said Sune Gudnitz, who heads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Pacific.

Aid agencies were scrambling for information and preparing to send teams to Vanuatu -- with a UN disaster assessment and coordination team expected to arrive late Sunday.

AIRSOURCE has responded by deploying pilots with the RNZAF sending a C130 Hercules with supplies to Vanuatu with resupply thru Cairns in Australia. It has also deployed one of its P3K's Orions for surveillance flights. Shortly the RAAF will deploy a C17 for supplying humanitarian loads. Head over to the Bid Division, Humanitarian Flights category to book the bids for this series of flights.

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AS37 Norm Edwards
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