Vanuatu faces food shortages after deadly cyclone

PORT VILA, Vanuatu, March 20 (UPI) -- Nearly a week after a deadly category 5 clyclone struck Vanuatu, killing 13 and wreaking havoc on seven islands, residents are struggling to recover and rebuild.

The main priorities at the moment include sheltering "infrastructure, food crops and livestock" as well as providing clean water and sanitation for those displaced, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Numerous aid agencies have deployed to lend a hand, with food security experts warning that food shortages could reach a critical point within two weeks.

A majority of the islanders relied on their own gardens both for food and as a source of income. But the cyclone's devastation has prompted concerns of food scarcity.

"The gardens were blown away by the wind. The fruit is rotting on the ground. The rain from the cyclone flood the vegetables on the ground," Mele resident Noel Faionalave told the Red Cross.

A team from the U.S. Agency for International Development in Vanuatu reported "Cyclone Pam affected almost all farms in Tanna."

Red Cross emergency communications officer, Hanna Butler, posted an aerial photo of Tanna Island on Twitter with the observation: "usually lush green vegetation looking wiped out and brown."

While aid agencies begin the process of distributing needed supplies, Vanuatu's national disaster committee's deputy chairman, has openly questioned the coordination process and accused aid agencies of seeking publicity.

"I'm not trying to be controversial," Benjamin Shing said at a press conference Wednesday evening. "But it is a fact. Everyone wants visibility. They want to place a sign on it say, 'we did this.'"

Shing criticized aid agencies for undertaking their own independent needs assessments and wasting "precious time" instead of seeking direction from the government "on coordination."

UNICEF's director of communications, Patrick Rose, refuted Shing's portrayal.

"We're there to help people. It's not about visibility... In these extreme situations people get impatient and the cracks start to show. We need to keep focused on the real goal of getting aid distributed to the people who need it." And that, he said, takes time.