Nabilah S
The Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster teams sent to Aniwa, Aneityum, and Futuna in TAFEA Province have already come back to Port Vila after doing rapid response work.
On these islands, members of each team did quick assessments at first, then more detailed assessments, quick fixes, installing VIP toilets, and spreading the word about good cleanliness practices.
Other teams on Tanna, Erromango, Epi, and the Shepherd Islands should return as expected at the end of this month.
A total of 1,000 boxes of 1.5-liter bottles of water were sent to TORBA Province, where the province team gave them out.
There is still water hauling going on in North Efate and Tanna. On the distant islands of Erromango, Tanna, Shepherd, Epi, and Efate, work is ongoing to do assessments, make quick fixes, raise awareness, and put in latrines.
The Department of Water Resources (DoWR) says that plans are being made to send teams to MALAMPA, SANMA, PENAMA, and TORBA provinces. However, this won’t happen until all of the work in TAFEA and SHEFA is done.
The plan for getting water to Efate and Tanna by truck will also be examined.
People have also been told to save and catch rainwater because an El Nino could happen later this year. When it doesn’t rain, there can be a shortage of water.
The Climate Services Division of the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD) says that villages in the country’s drier areas may be the first to face drought.
This covers the Shepherds group, the southern islands, and the north and west sides of the larger islands.
