Tropical storm Pam, one of the most powerful storm in the Pacific, raging in the island nation of Vanuatu has caused a lot of damage, dozens of people could have been killed.
Pam said strong level 5 hurricane - the most powerful level, landing at 13/3 Vanuatu winds to 380 km / hour.
Aid officials say at least 8 people were killed and 20 wounded by the storm. Meanwhile, the UN received information that 44 people were killed in the province Penama where Pam entering storm, but the Office of the National Disaster Control Vanuatu has not confirmed this information.
Images broadcast on local media showed Pam storm destroyed the power lines, trees shed roofs across the street in the capital, Port Vila, while witnesses described the waves as high as 8 meters and flooded the city.
The head of the Regional Office for the Pacific of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) expressed concerns about the situation with very few permanent buildings so that people can be evacuated in the area raging storm Southern Vanuatu, an underdeveloped region with a population of over 33,000 people, while communication was cut out.
According to Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in New Zealand Vivien Maidaborn, this could be a disaster the worst weather in the Pacific history, especially with the status of non-residential community equipped to respond to natural disasters, which can lead to catastrophic consequences for thousands of people living in the area above.
The aid agencies have called for help and hope to move food and medicine to Port Vila airport reopened, the expected date of 15/3.
Fiji Meteorological Agency said after leaving Port Vila, Pam storm was weakening and moving further south at a speed of 30 km / hour.
Expected storm will pass through Fiji and New Caledonia before the North Island of New Zealand on 16/3 to.
Hurricane Pam was assessed with equal strength hurricane landfall Haiyan Philippines in 2013 left more than 6,000 people died. Raging storm swept in after Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
At the conference the 3rd Global disaster risk mitigation in Japan, President Vanuatu Baldwin Lonsdale urged world support.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed condolences on the loss of the people of Vanuatu, while warning Pam storm damage can cause widespread
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop declared Canberra willing to support and implement search and rescue personnel and health care, while New Zealand were immediately notified aid NZD 1 million ($ 734,000) for Vanuatu, Fiji, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.