A team of six people from Darwin have been sent to Vanuatu to provide an immediate emergency response to victims of Cyclone Pam.
Eight people are confirmed to have died across the country’s 65 inhabited islands after Cyclone Pam tore through the South Pacific archipelago packing winds of up to 270 kilometres per hour.
Five doctors and nurses, and one logistical specialist have been deployed from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, which is based in Darwin.
They will make up the majority of Australia’s 10-person response team.
The centre’s nursing director, Bronte Martin, was heading to the Pacific island nation to lead a three-person rapid assessment team.
“Our main role is to work in concert with the local people in Vanuatu to determine what needs they have and in what areas we can provide assistance on behalf of the Australia Government,” she said.
She said the situation in Vanuatu was largely unknown at this stage.
“We are getting scant reports, but there’s certainly some fairly graphic images and stories that are starting to emerge from Vanuatu of a fairly terrifying evening that they’ve had,” she added.
“We are hearing reports that there is some damage to the local hospital, and a lot of infrastructure damage in the surrounding areas.”
But despite the uncertain conditions, Ms Martin said her team would be ready for anything.
“We’re unsure at this stage what we will be confronted with but we’ll be prepared for all different options that we may encounter,” she said.
Darwin-based centre ready to ramp up help if needed
The centre’s director of disaster preparedness, Matthew Harper, said it would provide two key capabilities – a medical treatment team, which will work with local medics, and a rapid assessment team.
“The initial team going in for medical capability will be able to do immediate resuscitation and treatment of people in hospital,” he said.
“The rapid assessment team will look at everything from what type of disease might be starting from a community health perspective all the way through to what type of injuries are in the community.
“So if we are asked to provide additional assistance we can provide an appropriate and measured response.”
The centre teams will initially take resuscitation, personal protection and personal support equipment.
“It’s very important that these teams go in as self-supporting as possible so that we don’t put additional demands on local community,” Mr Harper said.
An emergency treatment unit is also ready to be deployed from Darwin.
Mr Harper said once teams have assessed the situation on the ground in Vanuatu, he expected the centre’s full surgical field hospital will be flown in.
“It has two components, one an outpatient service like we have at a normal hospital, where we would see about 200 patients a day,” he said.
“We also provide a 60-bed facility, including surgery, including obstetrics and a range of other services, which would stay on the ground and stay open for about 24 hours a day.”
This mobile hospital was used in Tacloban to treat the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Philippines in 2013.
Mr Harper said they were concerned Vanuatu could be a repeat of that natural disaster.
“We’re hearing a lot of reports but from the pictures we’re seeing we can expect very, very similar conditions to what we saw in Tacloban,” he said.
“Lots of trauma injuries, people who are internally displaced and people who need support for water and food immediately, so it will be a very difficult situation for whoever goes in there.”