Tropical Cyclone Harold Disaster Response by Byond disaster relief NZ in Partnership with Sea Mercy

In Vanuatu, an estimated 160,000 people have been affected by Tropical Cyclone Harold which hit the island state on 6 April. The provinces of Sanma, Malampa and Penama were hardest hit. Assessments are ongoing by Government and humanitarian partners, including the UN, and the Pacific Humanitarian Team is supporting government-led efforts to respond to needs. Logistics in the response have been hampered by difficult local conditions following the cyclone as well as by COVID-19 restrictions that have been put in place for incoming cargo and people.

Byond Disaster NZ is a Charitable trust ‘not for profit’ organisation formed in 2015. We are an NGO.

Our core value is “Joining the Dots between the needs of victims in a disaster with our willing donors”. In order to get urgent supplies we pull our resources with other great partners - one such great partner is Seamercy

More about Byond/Seamercy:

It was when responding to the devastating cyclone Pam in Vanuatu 2015 that we met a representative from Sea mercy at a ‘cluster’ meeting (an action plan response meeting of all the responding agencies Government and non-Government NGOs

Sea Mercy and Byond disaster relief NZ were the relatively, ‘the new kids on the block’ and we established quickly that both organisations had complimentary skill sets.. Sea Mercy had a team of volunteers with vessels for delivering much needed aid, Byond disaster relief NZ had Aid that needed delivering..so, a synergy was born.

A matching mind set and discussions after Pam, that working together would be a good option and a benefit to both of us, and the victims of disaster.

In 2016 Cyclone Winston hit Fiji, this was where our recent collaboration was put into action…

Aid from Byond thanks to our donors was transported with BRaTs (Byond response team) on Sea Mercy ‘volunteer vessels’, the response teams from both organisations, working well together.

If one deployment finished (after around 2 weeks) another Byond team would ‘cross over’ and join another Seas Mercy vessel and crew.

Another worthwhile response would be then be planned and completed.

As our Byond Sea Mercy partnership gets stronger, recovery projects, building relationships with donors, and pre-positioning planning of supplies for future events takes place.

Working with other smaller organisations with the same resolve and with complimentary skills and synergies is also making our efforts more worthwhile..