Relief workers and disaster management officials are trying to access the outer islands of Vanuatu on Tuesday in order to reach those affected by a powerful cyclone.

Poor weather, limited communications and the geography of a country made up of more than 80 islands have made it difficult for crews to assess the damage and provide aid since the storm struck late Friday.

The United Nations humanitarian agency said 11 people are confirmed dead, downgrading its earlier total of 24, but officials expected the toll to rise.  Another 3,300 people were sheltering in evacuation centers.

“This is a very devastating cyclone in Vanuatu,” President Baldwin Lonsdale told the Associated Press Monday during a visit to Japan for a U.N. disaster conference.  “I term it as a monster, a monster.  It’s a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu.  After all the development that has taken place, all this development has been wiped out.”

The cyclone destroyed homes and buildings and leveled trees as it crossed the South Pacific island chain with winds up to 270 kilometers per hour.

VOA spoke with Derek Brien who is in Port Vila, the capital city, where he works for the Pacific Institute of Public Policy. He said “everything has been wiped out” and that is “the most frightening thing because most people here rely on their gardens for food.” Brien said all the fruit trees and crops have been destroyed.

Vanuatu President Baldwin Lonsdale said Monday the state of emergency that has been issued is only for Port Vila, where 90 percent of the buildings and houses have been destroyed or damaged.  He said another state of emergency will be enacted for the other cluster of islands that make up Vanuatu once communications have been re-established.

Vanuatu is an archipelago of some 80 islands located about 2,200 kilometers off the northeast coast of Australia.
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