TC Judy

The Daily Post reports surgeon Richard Leona saying the boy was transferred from a hospital on Ambae and admitted to the surgical ward at Vila Centre Hospital.

Dr Leona explained the boy was found by relatives who went searching for him four days after the cyclone had passed.

He had been trapped under the fallen tree during the storm.

Within days of each other, Vanuatu experienced back-to-back cyclones and a magnitude 6.5 earthquake, destroying homes, livelihoods, infrastructure and communications.

​Acting Country Director for Save The Children, Jack French told Pacific Mornings that while Ni-Vanuatu have banded together to support one another, attention is turning towards the next generation having to deal with harsher weather occurrences.

The airport was closed following Tropical Cyclone Judy and TC Kevin which hit the island nation.

The airline said it is likely that the airport will only re-open after the passing of Tropical Cyclone Kevin which struck last night.

“At this stage, Fiji Airways expects to operate its scheduled flights between Nadi and Port Vila on Monday 6th March. We are also planning supplementary services to accommodate guests whose travel has been affected,” the airline said in a statement.

Photo file  Caption: A Fiji Airways aircraft 

It comes as the country deals with a second cyclone, called Kevin, which is bearing down on the country.

At 2am local time the now category 3 cyclone was about 165km south-west of Santo and 225km west north-west of Malekula.

RNZ Pacific reports red alerts are in place for Sanma, Malampa, and Penama, with damaging gale force winds expected to affect those provinces within the next 12 hours.

Yellow alerts are in place for Torba and Shefa.

Meanwhile, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake has struck just offshore of Vanuatu.

RNZ Pacific reports the category three cyclone is bearing down on Vanuatu's northern provinces, moving in a southerly direction.

In its latest cyclone warning the Vanuatu Metservice said destructive hurricane-force winds of 150km/h gusting to 200km/h will affect the central and southern islands.

Air Vanuatu cancelled all domestic and international flights yesterday and today, with flights expected to resume on Thursday.

Banks closed their doors early Wednesday afternoon and sent staff home.

Boarding schools in the capital have also sent students home.

The Nadi to Port Vila service as well as the return flight have been cancelled.

The airline says subject to weather conditions, flights are expected to operate as normal on Thursday.

Customers whose travel has been disrupted will be accommodated on the Thursday flights.

Category cyclone two TC Judy is located 175km from Vanua Lava in northern Vanuatu.

The cyclone is slow moving and expected to develop into a category three system.

Photo file 

On Tuesday morning, Vanuatu Meteorological Service (VMS) said the system was 175km from Vanua Lava, northern Vanuatu.

VMS forecaster Iuma Bani said the system was set to become a category three storm later Tuesday.

It was moving slowly, Bani said.

"We're not expecting the system to be here in Vila tonight, maybe tomorrow, sometime tomorrow morning because it is moving quite slowly," he said.

"Once it starts moving south, then it will start to speed up a little bit."

Judy is currently sitting near Solomon Islands as a category 1 cyclone.

"TC Judy is moving southwest at about 35 kilometres per hour and is currently located about 35 kilometres to the southeast of Fatutaka in the Solomon Islands or about 725km west-northwest off Rotuma," Fiji's MetService said on Facebook.

"TC Judy is fast-moving and is expected to track over the small islands in the southern part of Solomon Islands as a category 1 system today and approach the northern parts of Vanuatu around midday tomorrow."