Powerful Cyclone Harold tears through South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Cyclone Harold tore through the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu for the second day on Tuesday. Buildings collapsed and communications were cut off in some parts of the island. As of Tuesday afternoon, no casualties had been reported.

The cyclone was upgraded to the highest category 5 as it approached Sanma province on one of Vanuatu’s 83 islands Monday. Harold had winds of up to 133 miles (215 km) per hour when it hit the country at about 1 pm local time (02:00 GMT). The cyclone was later downgraded to a category 4 storm.

Meanwhile, there have been reports and photographs of major damage to buildings. Jacqueline de Gaillande, CEO of Vanuatu Red Cross told the Epoch Times: “There is lots of damage in Sanma, they lost lots of buildings.” He added: “We don’t know if we can provide any support to the island because we are not allowed to travel inter-island [due to coronavirus] and we are waiting for the government to make that decision.”

A nation of 276,000 people, Vanuatu had declared a state of emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic. The country has had no reported cases of COVID-19 but had banned most travel to and from the islands and had limited gatherings to 5 people. Nevertheless, the Australian Broadcasting Corp stated, Vanuatu officials had relaxed social distancing rules over the weekend in preparation for the cyclone. The Meteorology and Geohazards Division has asked residents to take extra precautions until the storm has totally gone from Vanuatu’s waters, the New York Times reported.

Harold is expected to continue past Fiji’s southern islands, but on Tuesday Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office reportedly ordered the evacuation of a number of people and instructed other residents to be careful of flooding and move livestock to higher ground.

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