While on Mataso Island responding to reports of illness and injury, WHO Medical Officer Dr Rufina Latu came to the aid of a woman who was critically injured as her house had collapsed around her when Cyclone Pam hit in the early hours of Saturday, 15 March.
Her case is one example of what many people in Vanuatu have endured following the most powerful cyclone to sweep through the Pacific region in over a decade.
“It was terrifying,” said Mrs Isobel Merick, a grandmother of two. “It was pitch black and so loud. We could only hear the sound of trees and houses breaking above the scream of the wind. At around one o'clock in the morning, the cyclone’s winds peaked in one blast. Houses all over my village were simply blown away. In a flash, a lifetime of possessions were just gone.”
Mrs Merick sustained a severe trauma to her leg when her house collapsed. As the island's small clinic was demolished in the storm, no medical support was available and there was no way for her to reach another island or call for help. Mrs Merick simply had to wait in a makeshift shelter cobbled together out of debris left in the cyclone's wake.
WHO is assisting the Ministry of Health to re-establish the surveillance system for early detection of infectious diseases outbreak and other public health threats in Tanna and other islands in Vanuatu—a system impaired by the cyclone. “Re-establishment of the early warning surveillance system to detect outbreak-prone diseases as early as possible is critically important,” Dr Kool said. “Identifying and responding to outbreaks as early as we can will minimize the impacts they have on the population and the already overstretched health system."
Dr Latu provided Mrs Merick with first aid and coordinated her evacuation to Port Vila, where she could receive hospital-based medical care. Within two hours of her arrival in Port Vila, Mrs Merick was in surgery to treat her injuries.
The Shepherd group of islands, including Mataso Island, were devastated by Cyclone Pam. Their communities have been left with very little.
"This response and the rebuilding that will follow will take a long time," said Dr Latu. "But in the case of Isobel, I am happy to report that she is recovering very well and should be discharged in a week or two."
WHO continues to work closely with the Ministry of Health to respond to the urgent health needs in Vanuatu left by Cyclone Pam.
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