The island of Vanuatu in the South Pacific recently was devastated by a powerful cyclone. GCI has members there—here are two reports:
From Rod Matthews (GCI mission developer in the South Pacific):
A very severe cyclone hit the island nation of Vanuatu doing great damage to a number of islands including the capital Port Vila. We have a couple of members in Port Vila and have been in contact with one who is OK and no contact with others yet. Due to disruption to communications, there has been no contact possible with members on islands to the north of Efate where Port Vila is located, including Malekula where our congregation is located and Santo where elder William Davies lives.
From Rex Morgan (GCI pastor in New Zealand):
We have heard that William’s son John Davies (who manages the power station in Port Vila) is fine and his property is largely unscathed. Clearly he has his work cut out for him as he leads the struggle to restore the power supply. We have not yet been able to contact William who lives in Santo, or our members in Rory, Malekula. Even the Vanuatu government authorities in Port Vila don’t yet know what has happened in Malekula and the other outlying islands, as power supplies and phone lines are down, and even air reconnaissance is prevented because aircraft in Port Vila have been destroyed, and the airport is closed to all but military aircraft, which are now beginning to bring in relief supplies from New Zealand and Australia.
As it happens, Isei and Va Colati [Fijian pastor and wife] are scheduled to fly from Fiji to Vanuatu on March 29 to spend a week with the Rory church. It now looks like this trip could be well timed to support and encourage the members there, as well as to assess damage and provide necessary help.
Note: At this time we do not know if the members in Vanuatu need financial assistance. We will let you know if that is the case, and ask at that time for donations to the GCI Disaster Relief Fund.
