A category 5 cyclone hit the small island nation of Vanuatu on Friday evening and subsided Saturday morning, after causing huge damage to the small country. Vanuatu is a country of 83 islands with about 260,000 people living in it. It is approximately 1,250 miles northeast of the Australian city of Brisbane. This is one of the most powerful recorded storms to ever hit the Pacific region. The cyclone had sustained winds up to 210mph and storm surges up to 26ft.
All water and power has been completely cut off and most of the country's crops which the residents rely on, have been wiped out. It could still be a while before U.N. relief workers could reach the country because there are still lingering high speed winds and the ports and airports have been badly damaged. They expect the situation to deteriorate more before it gets better, because there are many people homeless and without food, and the fear is that there will be food and water shortages and people might start looting.
At least one person was killed in nearby Papua New Guinea. Eight have been confirmed dead in Vanuatu, but disaster relief workers say that it could take weeks to get the exact total number of dead, but they expect it to be dozens more.
The U.N. and Australia have both promised aid for the small country to help with the clean up and rebuilding.
Do you think that the United States should give disaster relief by sending people to help or money? Or should we just let the U.N. and Australia, who is nearby, handle it?
Do you think that if people were scared that food or water might run out, they might start looting or fighting each other for it, causing the situation to get worse?
Replies
Well done!
I think the U.S. should give them some support
What kind of support do you think? Money? Food? Security Forces to keep the peace and order? Rebuilding materials? Maybe all of them?
America should help but not be the main source of aid. I think Australia should be helping them out considering that they are the closest to that country.
I agree, it would be nice for some other countries to start helping out a lot more. We shouldn't have to pay very much of it, other nations need to step up and not just let U.S. do all the work and pay for it all the time.
I think we should let someone else deal with it. We always help others, and we can't even help ourselves. I don't think that people would get violent over a scarceness of food. They'd be trying to rebuild their community.
What if we get criticized though for not helping by other countries. Like it or not, other countries do look up to us and respond to what we do, plus they all just assume that we have money to throw at things like this all the time.
This is a sad situation, we as a country should send people over their to help out. If we ever had a Natural Disaster, I would hope people from other countries would come over to our country to volunteer their time and help us out.
I think we should maybe help them out a little. Because that was a terrible thing what happened to this country and they are going to need a lot of help along the way, and I think we could maybe help a little. Because if something like this were to happen to somewhere in the U.S. we would want help. No I do not think they will fight. Because there are smart people there and they will know the best thing they will need to do is stay calm and share what they got until things get under control.
What if they run out of food and water? Do you think they would fight over it then?
-
1
-
2
of 2 Next