Mana Marina (near Wellington)
Tuesday 14 April 2020
Five years ago, on 13 March 2015, Tropical Cyclone Pam wreaked havoc on Vanuatu. The international aid- response was tremendous and it was a proud time, seeing firsthand the timely and substantial response, particularly of Australia and New Zealand.
Of course, back then, there was no global pandemic consuming everyone’s minds – and the media airwaves. So it’s totally understandable that the arrival of tropical cyclone Harold – all Category 5 of it – has quickly been pushed from the front page … if it was ever there in the first place.
Sitting here, in isolation, you feel so helpless, as stories and images come in of the severe destruction. This time it’s the southern part of Santo and the island communities to the east of there that have felt the brunt of the hurricane’s force; packing winds of up to 270 km/h and torrential rain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Harold
Friends, schools and communities involved with MSM and PCV Health’s, Gudfala Tut Skul partnership have been impacted, and in addition I was following developments through the regular communications with friend and previous MSM sailing volunteer Carl Suddaby. Like me, Carl was stuck. In his case it was Port Vila, after going there for his very own wedding in early March.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and with no flights home to Australia, he (and his wife) were making the most of it at the resort. He even made himself useful by doing maintenance work and laying a concrete floor too from what I could tell – he’s a handy guy.
So it was a great relief late yesterday when he sent me a text … “Just landed Brisbane care of Australian Airforce. Hope your doing ok.” Shortly after Carl sent me a few snaps of his “First Class” RAAF Globemaster, backloading stranded Aussies after taking in much needed relief aid.
To quote World Vision…
Kendra Gates Derousseau, the country director at World Vision in Vanuatu, told the ABC damage she had seen in Luganville and video of Pentecost Island, “indicate that the damage is significantly worse than tropical Cyclone Pam”. “The body of Harold was smaller than Pam, so the damage is less expansive in terms of numbers of islands, but the islands that were hit — it almost looked like a tornado had ripped through Luganville,” she said.
In addition, New Zealand has also made a significant aid commitment.
To quote Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne, “there would likely be more assistance announced in the coming days. We are acutely conscious that this comes on top of the impact and difficulties created by COVID-19 for those countries and so our support is all the more important,”
Seeing the assistance provided by Australia and New Zealand, it had me looking back through some of the photos I’ve taken, on the ground in Vanuatu, as a first hand witness. I put a few together in the following photo, but there was the 2015 Cyclone Pam, the 2017 Ambae Volcano, a Relief Aid flight last year, 2019, as Mike Clarke and I awaited our Virgin flight home, plus of course, Carl’s experience yesterday. In addition I thought I would include a photo of assistance provide in 1959, sent to me last year by MSM supporter Andrew Jamieson. The photo originally belonging to his parents Dr Knox and Mrs Shiela Jamieson.
On the “Search For A Crew” front, I’ve spent most of the day answering emails, communicating and social networking … but still, it would seem the chances of finding suitable crew, in the next 7 days or so, is slim.
The “Comments” on the Stuff “Stranded Aussie” article, continue to be a source of amusement, and you may have noticed one – at the top of yesterday’s “Most Relevant” short-list – from a woman by the name of Margaret Brough. We met Margaret at Jackson Bay, where John and I dropped anchor on our first night out of Milford Sound.
As explained in the day’s blog from Monday 16 March, (refer following link) we’d started the day around 4:00am, dropping anchor at Jackson’s Bay close to 4:00 in the afternoon after a solid day’s sail. https://nz2020.travel.blog/2020/03/16/on-our-way-north/
As you can see in the photo, Margaret can be seen soaking up the serenity under an umbrella, overlooking the sublime vista before us. It truly was a magical evening. John even caught a couple of fish!
At the time, Margaret was intrigued and impressed by the idea of setting out in a yacht to cross the oceans, but her ability to sit there, chatting and working on her iPad – in the face of a solid, relentless, sand fly onslaught, seemed far more impressive to me.
So it was nice to re-connect through the Stuff Facebook page, with our “chatter”, back-and-forth, included here …
Margaret Brough: “I met you at Jackson Bay and had a very interesting conversation with you and your mate. Hope you get home safely after your amazing journey”
Robert Latimer: “Hi Margaret, from memory I think you jokingly said that you didn’t want to hear about us in the news … sorry about that …”
Margaret Brough: “I was very fascinated with what you were telling me about your trip and thought how gutsy it was. And yes I did say I didn’t want to be reading about you……but this news is ok. Shame you didn’t get to cover the North Island and I wish you a safe trip home.”
Margaret Brough: “I watched you guys sail out of beautiful Jackson bay in the early hours. An unforgettable sight.”
Robert Latimer: “Thanks Margaret, that’s very nice of you to say. Hope your self isolation time is being used productively. Thinking back to Jackson Bay, I was amazed you could sit so calmly at that picnic table for so long, given the sand flies!”
Smooth seas, fair breeze and you feel so helpless
Rob Latimer
NZ2020 