Cyclone hits Vanuatu

This item appears on page 19 of the May 2015 issue.

In the Southwest Pacific, Cyclone Pam struck the nation of Vanuatu on March 13 with winds of up to 185 miles per hour, killing at least 24 people and leaving more than 3,000 homeless. 

Spread across more than 60 islands, many of Vanuatu’s 250,000 people were left without communications or access to fresh water, raising concerns that the death toll could grow substantially.

Pam also caused flooding in the nations of Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.