“We are working closely with our partners to get the people of Vanuatu what they need as quickly as possible to respond to this devastating cyclone,” said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “We have activated our emergency operations centre and put a support team in place to assess needs and deploy critical resources to help in the response.”
WHO is sending health and emergency response experts with supplies to Vanuatu to assist in the response. WHO is also communicating with the governments of Australia and New Zealand, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other organizations, to ensure Vanuatu gets the right resources to meet their health needs. WHO and UNICEF are also working with the Ministry of Health to conduct an immunization campaign in response to a measles outbreak that began before the cyclone.
Complicating response efforts, the cyclone caused roads blocked with debris, knocked down bridges, and flooding. Electricity is out in many places and phones and Internet systems are down or are unreliable. The extent of the damage continues to be assessed.
Source-who.int
Comments
Post a Comment