Pacific / Vanuatu

People on Vanuatu's Tanna continue to need food aid

07:13 am on 14 May 2020

A former MP from the Vanuatu island of Tanna says his people continue to need food aid.

Parts of the island have been blanketed in ash from Mt Yasur, which has killed crops and contaminated water supplies.

The National Disaster Management Office said food support for Tanna will stop on the 21st of May.

But the former MP, Jimmy Nipo, told Buzz FM that means Tannese will have to find a way to sustain themselves.

"Food assistance is always the resolution in the short term, and in medium to long term it's quite serious."

Jimmy Nipo said the people of Tanna have been living with the volcano for centuries, and they'll find a way to survive.

He said chiefs are contemplating a traditional barter system with other parts of the island.