Cyclone Pam's smallest survivors

Little Alice is one of many children who have become Cyclone Pam’s smallest and most vulnerable survivors.

Gina, Alice’s mother, felt helpless as her daughter cried restlessly throughout the night as wind howled and rain pelted down in their village, just a 30 minute drive from Vanuatu's capital, Port Vila.

“I hugged her as tight as I could so she couldn’t hear the wind….she didn’t stop crying”.

“I hugged her as tight as I could so she couldn’t hear the wind….she didn’t stop crying”.

Alice doesn’t know what a cyclone is. She is too young to describe how she felt, but her big brown eyes look like she knows that her life has changed.

She is quiet and clingy, barely managing a smile. This is not the usual demeanour of a child from Vanuatu, voted one of the happiest countries in the world.

The night of the storm Gina, her husband Tom and Alice bunkered down at 5pm before running to escape to another shelter at 9pm when they felt the initial building wasn’t safe enough.

Cyclone Pam has left them homeless along with an estimated 70% of the country.

Winds up to 320kph engulfed their corrugated iron hut and flung it into the air, scattering it like pieces of confetti. 

Winds up to 320kph engulfed their corrugated iron hut and flung it into the air, scattering it like pieces of confetti. Their entire village was decimated.

For now, Alice and her family will remain in the community centre they evacuated to. It’s not very homely - a sparse rectangle concrete building – and is filled with their whole village.

World Vision is working with communities to help children like Alice and their families rebuild their lives, with shelter kits, emergency hygiene items and urgently needed food and water.

Please help our work to assist people affected by Cyclone Pam by donating here.