Vanuatu

Ambae's Manaro volcano was upgraded to level four activity five days ago with the Geohazards Department warning of flying rocks, volcanic gas, acid rain and ash falls.

RNZI rpeort the coordinator for the Vanuatu Redcross Dickenson Tevi said shipping vessels were on standby awaiting the decision.

He said it was likely Ambae's population of 10,000 will be evacuated to neighbouring islands including Santo, Pentecost and Malekula.

So far 6800 people have been relocated by Vanuatu Red Cross and other agencies.

Penama Provincial Government is registering evacuees to keep a track of how many people have been evacuated so far and how many need further assistance.

According to the Red Cross, about 900 people are yet to be evacuated.

There are efforts underway to identify more evacuation centres to accommodate all the people affected.

Vanuatu and France are to have talks in Honiara next month about their long-running dispute over Matthew and Hunter islands.

Both countries lay claim to the remote volcanic islands which lie to Vanuatu's south, and the east of the French territory of New Caledonia.

The matter was taken up by France under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, yet it appears to have stalled.

Mr Kilman said new talks to try and settle the dispute are a good step.

The comment from Sato Kilman, a former prime minister, comes after another call on West Papua by Vanuatu at the United Nations.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, current prime minister Charlot Salwai called for an investigation into alleged killings and abuses of the indigenous people of Indonesia's Papua region.

Mr Kilman said the UN was the right place in which to raise concern on Papua.

But he questions whether Vanuatu takes the same stand on similar issues in other parts of the world.

One of the major challenges faced by authorities is managing the evacuees and their water and food supply.

More than 7000 residents have been relocated from the danger zones to safe zones on the east and west sides of the island.

Vanuatu Red Cross Disaster Risk Reduction coordinator, Agustine Karae, says over 50 evacuation centres have been opened in the two areas.

“Schools and community centres have been opened up as evacuation centres on the island of Ambae. There are 30 centres on the east of the island alone,” he said.

Van2017 contracted Vanuatu Institute of Technology to build the podiums that will be used by athletes when receiving their medals.

VIT students spent almost two weeks to build these podiums, which are planned to be placed at each sports field of play, mainly at Korman Venue. At the end of last week, they were stocked at the warehouse, waiting for final touches before December.

Sailosi Rezel from Van2017 Venues Department explained that few additional ramps were also constructed to accommodate athletes with disability to access podiums for medal presentations.

On September 21, SDA Mission authorities, led by the SDA mission President Pastor Nos Mailalong Terry, signed a Venue Use Agreement with Van2017 CEO Clint Flood for the use of the Multipurpose Hall currently under construction and in its finishing stages at Epauto Area. The hall will be designated as the Weightlifting competition venue for the Games in December.

NDMO Operations Manager, Peter Korissa says they hope to evacuate all the residents in the north and south of Ambae Island before the end of the week.

The volcano has been rumbling for weeks, but its activity increased rapidly on Saturday, when it started belching ash across much of the island, blanketing villages and crops in the north and south.  

Authorities have been using limited local vessels to move people from north and south Amabae to the east and west sides of the island.

Plans are well underway for the event scheduled for October 16th to the 20th.

However, the head of communications for the organisers, Kiery Manassah, told RNZ gaining the attention of people in Vanuatu for the event has been tricky with other activities coming up in the country.

Manassah said people are talking more about the Pacific Mini Games, which is coming up in December.

Vanuatu's Geohazards Department raised the official alert threat from level three to four as an eruption on Ambae island continues to intensify. The alert levels range from 0 to 5 - level five is a very large eruption.

The National Disaster Management Office along with a team from the Geohazards department left early Sunday morning for Ambae.

On Saturday, authorities were preparing to evacuate as many as 5,000 people from one side of the island to the other as the volcano belches ash across much of the island.