VANUATU’S government failed to warn people that a lethal cyclone was approaching because its weather organisation used inaccurate forecasts, a Cotswolds man who lives there has claimed.
The highly populated island of Efate, which includes the Vanuatu capital Port Vila, was directly in the path of Cyclone Pam when it struck on March 14 and it is feared that entire communities were wiped out.
So far 24 people have been confirmed dead and 3,300 are homeless.
Ronan Harvey, who owns Cotswold Airport and has a home and coconut plantation on the island of Santo in the Vanuatu archipelago, said the government’s weather organisation, Vanuatu Meteorological Services, used inaccurate data in the days leading up to the tragedy.
Mr Harvey, who was at his home in New Zealand when the cyclone hit, said: “Their forecasting was criminally inaccurate resulting in many avoidable deaths. This storm and a very accurate track was correctly forecast up to a week before on other sites.”
The Standard was unable to contact the Vanuatu government for a response.
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