Results for Vanuatu

Tongan students at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu, this year, say they had returned home after their exams, before the devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Port Vila yesterday. The Government of Vanuatu, stated last night that most of the damage was in Port Vila, Efate. There were 14 confirmed deaths, and many injured or missing.

A damaging 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck near Vanuatu, in the Western Pacific, this afternoon with a 5.5 magnitude aftershock. Reports and images of damaged buildings in Port Vila are emerging, while warnings of possible tsunami waves were issued for the nearby coastal areas.

With COP29’s conclusion, the stage shifts to the Hague, where Vanuatu’s landmark International Court of Justice climate change case, will start on 2 December - with 110 UN member states and intergovernmental organisations testifying. Vanuatu's Special Envoy for Climate Change and Environment, stated yesterday that: “The commitments made in Baku — the dollar amounts pledged and the emissions reductions promised — are not enough. They were never going to be enough. And even then, based on our experience with such pledges in the past, we know they will not be fulfilled.”

Tonga’s under-19 football team departed for Vanuatu last week, to participate in a two-week long OFC U-19 Championship, Qualifying Stage.

The Government of Tonga contributed $100,000 towards the Government of Vanuatu’s response to the aftermath of Severe Tropical Cyclone Judy and Kevin.

As Severe Tropical Cyclone Kevin moved out of southern Tongan waters on Monday, March 6, the Fua'amotu Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre was deactivated. No damage to land areas was reported.

Tonga, Samoa, and Tuvalu have begun immunizing children to protect them against cervical cancer, pneumonia, and rotavirus, under a project financed by the Asian Development Bank.

Seventeen people are now in managed quarantine in Samoa, after a CoViD-19 infected container ship passed through Apia on the weekend. Meanwhile, Vanuatu has recorded its first CoViD-19 case, and Solomon Islands has seen more COVID cases arriving.

The Government of Vanuatu has advised Forum members of its intention to defer the 51st Pacific Islands Forum Meeting that was scheduled for August 4-7 this year in Vanuatu, to next year, because of the CoViD-19 pandemic.