Operation Summary
March-April 2015: Tropical Cyclone Pam developed in the East of Solomon Islands on 6 March and gained strength as it moved south towards Vanuatu. Heavy rain, strong winds and sea swell, combined with king tides, caused widespread coastal flooding and wind damage. Pam hit Vanuatu as a Category 5 cyclone on 13 March. An Information Bulletin was issued and a Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) Operation was launched for Vanuatu. An IFRC Field Assessment Coordination Team (FACT) was deployed and an International Appeal, consolidating the operations in the five affected countries, for CHF 5.7 million was launched on 23 March. The appeal aimed to cover affected communities in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands and Kiribati. Relief distributions were conducted across five countries and an Operations Update was issued on 10 April.
May-June 2015: Early recovery assessments commenced. Real-time evaluation (RTE) planning and recruitment process started. Plans of action for the five countries updated based on the assessment findings, resulting in the overall International Appeal revision. Operations Update 2 was issued on 15 May. The International Appeal revision is launched on 17 June, with a budget of CHF 6.8 million.
July-August 2015: Recovery materials arrive in Vanuatu and Kiribati with materials arriving in Tuvalu later the same month. WASH recovery work begins in Vanuatu and Operations Update 3 issued on 21 July. The Real-Time Evaluation is completed in early August. Additional recovery assessments are ongoing in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Tuvalu.
September-October 2015: An estimated 44,7851 people have been assisted across all cyclone-affected countries with direct relief activities. Operations update 4 is published.
November – December 2015: IFRC and French Red Cross sign a Project Cooperation and Funding Agreement, in which the French Red Cross will support the Vanuatu Red Cross in the implementation of the appeal activities in North Tanna. Meanwhile, the WASH cluster has been reactivated due to El Nino response. A total of 900 households have received the Build Back Safer Awareness sessions in West Tanna. The participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation (PHAST) training of trainers (TOT) in Vanuatu has been held. Finally, the Tuvalu Red Cross Society was recognized by Red Cross Movement, and is now officially the 190th registered member of the International Federation.
January - March 2016: A project manager was recruited in Papua New Guinea to support the implementation of recovery activities and coordinate with the IFRC TC Pam operations management team. A monitoring visit was undertaken by a field delegate to support the development of a consolidated activity plan TC Pam recovery operations and emerging events including the El Nino induced drought event in the western highlands. A new field delegate has been recruited to support Tuvalu, Kiribati and Solomon Islands to continue the implementation of activities. In Vanuatu, implementation of PHAST activities have started in the Shepherds Islands, as well as the rehabilitation of school in Buninga began and the rehabilitation of the VRCS Tanna branch office. In Vanuatu, PHAST activities have been ongoing and the community-based health and first aid (CBHFA) programme has also started. The shelter team has completed its beneficiary satisfaction surveys, with data being consolidated. For North Tanna, the French Red Cross team is working on procurement and finalization of designs for shelter in North Tanna.