Climate change is a reality and in the Pacific we are seeing the devastating effects of more frequent and powerful storms, long dry periods and excessively heavy rains; leading to flooding of homes and businesses.
In 2015 Vanuatu was hit by Category 5 cyclone Pam, which devastated the Southern Islands. Over 200 people from around Smolbag Haos sheltered in our buildings, until they could rebuild shelters to live in.
We saw that Wan Smolbag Theatre’s buildings were well placed to become an evacuation center for people in future disasters. The Tagabe River that runs nears by the center, is prone to flooding in cyclones and the flimsy settlement houses are often not strong enough to withstand cyclonic winds and people need somewhere to run. We are now a designated evacuation center.
Cyclone Pam was followed by a very strong El Nino. It was impossible to grow food as there was no rain for months. Oxfam and then World Vision funded free lunches at the Wan Smolbag Nutrition Center for people from the surrounding settlement areas. Our nutrition center produced 6 to 700 healthy lunches a day for many months to keep people from going hungry.
In April 2020 Vanuatu’s Northern Islands were hit by the another category 5 cyclone, cyclone Harold; the 5 th in our region in the past 5 years. (Pam, Winston, Donna, Gita, Harold and Yasa all being category 5 cyclones. That is a category 5 cyclone every year since 2015, except for 2019, but with 2 category 5s in 2020.)
Our youth center was badly damaged but we managed to rebuild with help from generous people who donated to our GoFundMe page and donor funds.
Wan Smolbag through its turtle monitor network is trying to plant back coral in some areas and also looking at ways to tackle the massively damaging crowns of thorns outbreaks. The monitors are trying to replant mangroves to help protect the land from powerful storms and sea level rise.
We have produced two short documentaries on climate change about the Tagabe River and the effects of climate change on the small island of Pele, in north Efate. Coming Soon!
We will released our feature film on climate change called ‘Wol Ia Nomo’ –‘Only One World’ in April 2021 we released our feature film on climate change “wol Ia nomo” – “only one world” Here is a link to the trailer – https://vimeo.com/545795290 or watch the full movie we below.
Climate change is a threat to human life on earth. We cannot pretend it is not happening.