I don't know about any of you ... but having to suffer through a 6.5 earthquake, volcano erupting, and a category 5 cyclone .... all in the space of a couple of weeks ... would send me right over the edge. For those of you who don't know - that's just what the island nation of Vanuatu experienced last month.
We haven't heard much about it. The "why" needs some pondering. It seems that the islanders have quite a "can do" attitude with priorities being on the right syllable. They haven't really made a big deal of their situation. They just rolled up their sleeves and got to work.
Vanuatu, in spite of its idyllic South Pacific island setting, is one of the world's poorest countries. Located east of Australia, west of Fiji, and south of the Solomon Islands, it is also one of the most beautiful. It consists of a remote, sprawling archipelago of about 80 islands inhabited by approximately a quarter of a million people, Only 11 of those people died. Even as the island infrastructure was devestated and the majority of homes were lost.
First came preparedness. The islanders are no strangers to these shows of Mother Nature. They plan ahead. In anticipation of Cyclone Pam, the islanders weighted down corrugated tin roofs with cement blocks, logs, and sand bags. They stockpiled and buried several days worth of food ... specifically, water, fruit, and coconuts. They even dug a network of latrines and lined them with palm fronds so that the wastes wouldn't contaminate the buried food supplies.
When Cyclone Pam arrived, she hit, at times, with record wind gusts of up to 200 mph with sustained winds over 150 mph.. The islanders went to ground and took shelter wherever they could find it: schools ... churches ... even in coconut drying kilns and the root systems of ancient banyan trees. While the buildings didn't do so well, the people survived. As did their spirit.
Vanuatu's Prime Minister, Joe Natuman, speaking from the capital city of Port Vila was quoted as saying: "The important thing is that the people survived. If the people survived, we can rebuild." They are doing just that.
Aid has been coming in from many sectors ... the majority of it based out of Australia and New Zealand. I very much want to tip my hat to these folks and pay tribute to their spunk and resiliency. They have shown an admirable ability to, as my mother used to say: "pick yourself up ... dust yourself off ... start all over again."
That being said ... if anyone feels so inclined ... Caritas does a great job of helping. Here's a link if you're thinking you might like to lend a "helping hand": http://newswire.crs.org/cyclone-pam-caritas-agencies-send-emergency-staff-to-vanuatu/
Meanwhile, let's just take a moment to pay tribute to the marvelous "get it done" resilient attitude of the people of Vanuatu as they set about repairing their beautiful country. Again, hats off to them and their fine example.
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