Compo call for Vanuatu helpers

The Vanuatu government is being challenged to compensate those who helped accommodate the people forced off Ambae island by last year's volcanic eruption.

A retired policeman from Ambae Wilson Garae says owners of private homes and churches community centres on Pentecost, Maewo and Santo paid for electricity to host the thousands of evacuees.

Mr Garae says it is only right that out of the evacuation fund of nearly $US 2 million, the government gives something in return as a gesture of gratitude.

He says he understands the Ministry of Climate Change still has a balance of half a million dollars of the emergency fund.