Sea Mercy Vanua Balavu
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| The Sea Mercy Fleet in Loma Loma, Vanua Balavu |
May 27, 2016
Loma Loma, Vanua Balavu, Northern Lau Group, Fiji
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| The Island of Vanua Balavu and its outlying islands: Avea, Susu, Muni and Cikobia |
Providing help to remote islands of the South Pacific has been our long-range goal for the last 15 years. And here we are, in Vanua Balavu, Fiji’s remote Lau Group, with 7 other yachts, all parts of Sea Mercy. We are on a recovery and rebuild mission, assisting the local populations after Cyclone Winston slammed its Category 5 fury into Vanua Balavu on February 20th.
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| The shoreline in LomaLoma |
OUR MISSION - Vanua Balavu was the hardest-hit of all the islands in the Lau Group. Casualties were heavy: five people died in the village of LomaLoma, four in Boitaci, and one in Delaconi. Dozens were injured. Ten were medivac’d to Suva with severe injuries. The devastation is obvious, even 3 months later.
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| Not much left of this home |
The health officer who cleared our quarantine was still traumatized as she recounted a night of horror, she and her family trying to escape the surge that was overtaking her home, swimming to higher ground while avoiding flying debris, roofing, trees. The psychological scars are obvious and deep.
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| Sea Mercy Yacht PEREGRINE at anchor in Loma Loma |
Our fleet of 8 Sea Mercy yachts has a 2-step mission:
1 - Assess the needs of remote islands
2 - Request supplies, deliver them, and help rebuild.
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| Jonathan Robinson, our coordinator, loads water purification tablets on the dinghies |
Jonathan Robinson, a retired Royal Navy helicopter pilot, is our task master, fresh from his experience with Sea Mercy last year in Vanuatu, where he provided relief after cyclone Pam. And what energy! No sooner had we finished our clearance that Jonathan had gathered the aid that had been shipped by Sea Mercy: 4 pallets of supplies, canned food, 16,000 water purification tablets, dozens of machetes, tarps, chain saws, clothes and linen. Quickly divided into 8 stacks, supplies were shuttled all afternoon to the various boats.
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| DOMINO's aft deck is the perfect place for our daily briefings, assessment reports, priority settings, and tasking |
At briefing, Johnathan had us paired up and tasked out.
- Peregrine and Remedy to assess Avea, Susui and Munia
- Perry and The Southern Cross to assess Tuvuca (difficult access, by catamaran only)
- Amelie IV and Dream Catcher to assess Nayau (no access, stand out only)
- Amelie IV and Domino to assess Panacea and Yacata (o access, stand out only)
while Jonathan on Chez Nous will remain in Loma Loma to take our reports (emailed by Iridium) and stage the coming of Super Yachts.
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| Drs. Gretchen and JP visit with Dr. Malo at the Loma Loma hospital |
Still we had time to visit the hospital and meet with Dr. Malo. This young doctor has been at his post for only 4 months and we can only imagine how horrendous his task of dealing with a Cat. 5 cyclone within weeks of starting his new job. He is responsible for 3,000 souls in Vanua Balavu and surrounding islands. He is assisted by 20 nurses (clinical and public health) and he runs the Loma Loma hospital, a 16-bed facility. Kindly, he gave us a tour while forgetting his lunch hour, and this is what we found.
- The children’s ward (4 beds) can use a new coat of paint, happy murals and toys. The 2 young boys lying there were quite lonely.
- The men’s ward (4 beds) is rather basic.
- The women’s ward (4 beds) also includes an emergency cubicle with basic gurney and crash cart.
- The birthing center is not being used, its windows broken, its paint peeling.
- The dentist chair is used for tooth extractions only, since all electric parts have been damaged during the storm and have been sent to Suva for repair.
- The linen cabinet is virtually empty
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| The Women's ward |
NEWS FLASH - As soon as we visited the hospital, we communicated our findings to NOMADESS, a yacht coming our way. Within 24 hours, the crew had delivered supplies and linens to the hospital, repainted the children's ward and replaced the windows in the women's ward (and delivered 6,000 liters of water (each) to the islands of Susui, Avea and Cikobia
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| The NOMADESS crew repaints the Children's ward |
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| The women's ward windows, all fixed up |
To the side of the hospital, the health center where mothers usually take their babies for checks-ups has been boarded-up, rocked off its foundations, condemned for the time being.
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| The Health Center, rocked off its foundation, no longer safe |
Wherever we walked in the village, we saw condemned buildings but tents for temporary shelter, signs of re-building, and the ever-present “Bula” of the Fijians.
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| Concrete slabs and tents: a common site all over Vanua Balavu |
Our job here is to communicate those needs to Sea Mercy, to get what we can delivered to the villages, one village at a time.
Want to help us? Just log on to the Sea Mercy website and donate. Your donation will go a long way, since all of us are volunteers. $ for a pot of paint and paint brushes? $ for toys? $ for children's shoes and women underwear? Yes, please! Visit http://seamercy.org/
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| Blown-out roofs, no gutters = no water catchment = no water! |
More on the next blog…
dominomarie