Disaster recovery

Speaking to the ABC on HMAS Canberra, Colonel Douglas Pashley said the Australian Defence Force troops were "really excited to be here".

"The priority is to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief assistance to support the people of Vanuatu," he said.

"Most of these men and women behind me, they were in the field a week ago doing an exercise in Australia, [so] we pulled them out of the field, brought them to Sydney [and] loaded them on.

"We have a sizeable and very capable force here. 

Building on a reform program that began in 2020 – designed to support the implementation of stronger risk mitigation and prevention actions across the country – the Vanuatu Second Disaster Risk management Development Policy Grant with a Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option supports key aspects of Vanuatu’s new Disaster Recovery and Resilience Act and its Physical Planning Act. Together these will help improve risk reduction, preparedness, response and recovery from future disasters, which often disproportionally impact vulnerable ni-Vanuatu communities.