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The international community is proving utterly inadequate in helping Syrians both inside and outside their country. Oxfam’s damning verdict is in a new report today Solidarity with Syrians that analyses the “fair shares” of rich and powerful countries to provide money, resettlement places for refugees and leadership to end the bloodshed.  

Aid should today begin to reach the hard hit southern Vanuatu islands of Tanna and Erromango, which both took the full force of the 250kmh Cyclone Pam, after rapid assessments of the islands showed absolute devastation with entire villages destroyed.

Vanuatu could face a second emergency with waterborne disease a real risk if the need for clean water, sanitation and hygiene is not met, Oxfam said today. 

Oxfam's 10 people team in Vanuatu are reporting damage to major infraestructure like the hospital, the morgue and schools as the picture of complete devastation in Vanuatu now begins to unfold.

Oxfam and other agencies say that the international community must agree a bold new deal for Syria’s refugees if it is serious about tackling the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. The new deal must provide more investment in Syria’s neighbours, which host more than 4 million refugees, and an end to restrictions that prevent refugees from working and in some cases living legally in these countries. 

Two rapid assessment teams have arrived in the two small southern Vanuatu islands hit hardest by Cyclone Pam to rapidly assess exactly what survivors of the disaster need.

Stories of complete devastation are beginning to come out of Vanuatu in the aftermath of the severe tropical cyclone Pam.Oxfam staff on the ground in Port Vila have reported complete destruction of homes, three story high trees completely uprooted and small communities with barely any houses left standing. Oxfam's Vanuatu Country Director Colin Collett van Rooyen said people in Vanuatu had told him they had never seen a…

Up to 90 per cent of housing in Vanuatu's capital reported to have been seriously damaged by Cyclone Pam, with still no information from the extremely vulnerable outer islands which are home to 33,000 people.