Nearly half the population of Tuvalu have been severely affected by the devastation wrought by Cyclone Pam, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Enele Sopoaga said yesterday, with other Pacific island nations also taking a hit.
While the focus has been on devastation in neighboring Vanuatu, Tuvalu — a grouping of nine coral atolls with a population of less than 11,000 — is also struggling to cope, Sopoaga told Radio New Zealand International.
“Forty-five percent of the population of Tuvalu, most of whom are on the outer islands, have been affected, badly, severely affected,” he said of the island chain about 1,550km northeast of Vanuatu. “We are worried about the aftermath in terms of hygiene and supplies of essential materials, like food, medicine and water.”
Photo: EPA
Few details of the impact were given, but Sopoaga said most people living on the outer islands of the diplomatic ally of Taiwan were affected, with houses and crops washed away.
He told the broadcaster there were health and safety concerns after cemeteries were destroyed, adding that government boats were setting off later yesterday to assess the extent of the damage.
Aurelia Balpe, the Fiji-based head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the Pacific, said there had been extensive flooding in the low-lying nation.
“Tuvalu has had storm surges and up to six of its islands have been affected. People have spoken of four to five meter waves,” she said, adding that “people are hip-high in water.”
“Some houses have fallen over and other infrastructure has been hit, with one hospital destroyed,” she added.
Balpe said other Pacific nations, including the Solomon Islands and Kiribati — also allies of Taiwan — had also been hit.
“Kiribati has also had storm surges,” she said, with the main causeway on the islands badly damaged. “There’s basically one road on the islands and the bridge has been destroyed, which is seriously impacting transport.”
On the Solomon Islands, several houses were razed by landslides.
“It is unprecedented in terms of the number of places impacted, but we have not heard of casualties in the Solomons, Kiribati and Tuvalu at the moment,” Balpe said.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said Canberra was responding to a request from Tuvalu, one of the world’s smallest and most remote countries.
“Tuvalu has announced a state of emergency and we are responding to that request with basic supplies, water, sanitation, tents, blankets and food,” Bishop said in Perth, Australia. “In the case of Fiji, Solomon Islands and Kiribati, we understand assessments are being made. The impact is not as great, but we wait to hear.”
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary