Catastrophic Damage Feared In Tiny Vanuatu After Category 5 Cyclone Pam

It is not easy for a lumbering, powerful tropical cyclone to score a direct hit on a tiny island nation like Vanuatu. The country, made up of 83 separate islands, is strung from northwest to southeast about 1,000 miles east of Australia. Most cyclones blow past it, or hit in a weaker state. But not this time. Category 5 Cyclone Pam did what no storm has done before in modern times — scored a direct hit on the nation's capital of Port Vila, where about 50,000 people live in light housing along the coast — and then hit additional islands head on again. According to Alice Clements, a UNICEF official on the ground in Port Vila, as of first light, it was already clear that the damage in Port Vila and other areas was "catastrophic."