Tropical Cyclone Response in the Banks Islands, Northern Vanuatu

International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters November 1990. Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 401-424.

DISASTERS AND DEVELOPMENT IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT: TROPICAL CYCLONE RESPONSE IN THE BANKS ISLANDS, NORTHERN VANUATU

John R. Campbell Ministry for the Environment Wellington, New Zealand

The Banks Islands in northern Vanuatu are prone to tropical cyclones. While a thriuingpopulation appears to haue coped with these events prior to European contact, since then a smallerpopu- lation has struggled to maintain its food security following tropical cyclone events. A number of social, economic, political and resource management changes haue led to a set ofdisasterpre-conditions which result independence onexternal food relief following tropical cyclones. Most of these changes have taken place in the interuening years between disasters and haue occurred independent of the tropical cyclone hazard. However, one set of changes, the provision of food relief itself, has provided the catalyst for the other changes to occur. This paper is an historical study of responses to disaster in a small Pacific Island community. The purpose of thc study is two- fold. First, it seeks to explore the process by which small island communities have become increasingly vulnerable to disasters. Many Pacific Island countries have been affected by severe food shortages following tropical cyclones in rccent years and have become incrcasingly dependent upon injections of relief from foreign donors. This paper will investigate, from an historical perspective, some of the factors that have led to severe stress on food supplies of a small and relatively isolated island community as a result of tropical cyclone disasters. There are numerous recent examples ofthe disproportionately heavy impact of tropical cyclones on Pacific Island countries and the high levels of food dependency that result. In February 1990 Cyclone Ofacaused $US110 million in damage in Western Samoa and food rclicr was rcquircd by 80% of the national population of 401 402 International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters

162,000 (Islands Business, March 1990, p. 16). In March 1986, Cyclone Namu brought about such devastation in the Solomon Islands that 90,000 people (one-third of the total population) were placed on rations for several months and losses totalled one-eighth of GDP (Britton 1987;Solomon Islands, National Disaster Council 1986). Vanuatu was struck by three tropical cyclones in the space of little more than twelve months between February 1987 and February 1988. Each storm caused considerable devastation, although in different parts of the country. The first of these events was Cyclone Uma which hit Efate, on which the national capital Vila is located, and islands to the south. The losses were great. Forty-nine people died and material losses were assessed at $US72 million, including widespread crop damage. Large donations from overseas governments and international agencies were required to maintain food supplies for six months after the event (AODRO 1987). The second storm, Cyclone Anne, affected the Torres and Banks Islands in the far north of Vanuatu in early January 1988. While there was no loss of life, housing was severely damaged and food relief was needed to offset heavy damage to subsistence and commercial plantations. While some relief was purchased locally, the relief programme depended on foreign donations of both money and rice (AODRO 1988). The third event in FebruaryIMarch 1988 was Cyclone Bola which affected some of the islands in the central region of the country necessitating further relief assistance. The second objective of the paper is to examine the applicability of two common components of disaster definition in the Pacific island context. As a concept “disaster" is used in a variety of ways although there are some aspectswhich are common to most usages. One of these common components of disaster definitions, although it is not always explicit, is that disasters are a departure from normality: ... if one seeks an understanding of what happens at the interface between extreme physical phenomena and social systems, it is necessary to look at the relationship between the context of normality and the process of disasters. (Pelanda 1981,p. 1, quoted in Britton 1987a, p. 36) An imnortant concent related to this is the "nrinci~leof conti- nuity" (~iarantelli197i) or the "carry over principle" kuarantelli and Dynes 1977). While disasters do represent change, including the need to deal with the consequences of rapid kpheaval of Campbell: Disasters and Development in Historical Context 403 environmental conditions, response to disaster is usually marked by a continuance of pre-disaster behaviour and "at most [disasters] tend to accelerate existing trends" (Quarantelli and Dynes 1977, p. 34). From this perspective there is a need to focus on disaster pre-conditions as a key to understandingwhat happens during and after a disaster (Britton 1989). The second common component of disaster definitions is that extreme levels of disruption occur (Fritz 1961). This disruption may have one of two sets of consequences: To repair damage and to replace losses after a disaster requires the diversion of part of the productive capacity of a community from "normal uses" so that these resources can be devoted to disaster response and reconstruction, or it requires that additional productive capacity be obtained from outside the system to help with responding to the disaster. (Bates and Peacock 1987, p. 294) The idea that a disaster occurs when extreme conditions exceed the ability of a community to cope with the disruption is implicit in the developing definition of the concept of extreme event (e.g., Heathcote 1985). It is also a strong component of disaster definitions used by "intervenors" such as disaster managers in central government positions including Pacific island countries (e.g., Car- ter 1984) and international donors (e.g., USAID 1982).

Mota Lava ayd the Banks Islands The location of this study is the Banks Islands in northern Vanuatu. and in ~articular.the small island of Mota Lava. The study is based on notes from field research carried out in 1981 and on subsequent documentary research. Including the small islet of Ra, which lies approximately 200 metres south ofthe southeastern tip of the main island, Mota Lava has a land area of 31 square kilometres. The island, one of eight in the Banks group (see Figure I),lies some 450 kilometres fromvila. According to the most recent census (in 19891, the Banks Islands has a population of 5510 persons with a total of 1190 resident in Mota Lava, and represents only a small proportion of the national population of 142,630 (Vanuatu, National Planning and Statistics Office, 1989). Internattonal Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters

Figure 1. The Banks Islands

VANUA LAVA

It wasnotuntil after Bishop Selwyn, oftheMelanesianMission, had passed through the Banks Islands in 1852 that regular interaction between the islands and the outside world began. In the decades that followed missionaries made regular trips to the Banks Islands and encouraged island people to leave temporarily for religious training in New Zealand and Norfolk Island before re- turning as "teachers." The missionaries encouraged trade as well, first to obtain provisions for their voyages through Melanesia (Yonge 1875, pp. 171-172; Dudley 1860, p. 2; Ashwell 1860, p. 8). Campbell: Disasters and Development in Historical Context

and second in order to encourageBanks Islanders to financechurch activities through the sale of copra (Fox 1958, p. 132). The establishment of permanent trading posts in the group took place from the 1870s onward (Codrington 1871, p. 66). Another extremely important influence on the islands came from"1abour traders" who, between the 1870sand the first few years of the twentieth century, took at least 6,000 people from the Banks group to work on plantations in Queensland and Fiji (Price 1976; Fiji, Immigration Department 1876-1911). With the cstablishmcnt of the Now Hebridcs Condominium in 1906, the Banks Islands became incorporated into a new adminis- trative sphere. However, because of their distance from tho capital and the largcly laissca fairc attitudes of thc two govcrningpowors, the establishment of colonial rule had little early impact on the Banks Islands. The labour trade celsed but numerous people from the Banks Islands took work on ~lantationswithin the Condomin- ium. Following the Second World War, svernment activities in the Banks Islands increased with provision of educationand health services. he ~e~ublicof~anuag~ained its independence in 1980. In the same year an airstrip was built on Mota Lava. Environmental Extremes The Banks Islands are prone to a wide range of environmental extremes including drought, tropical cyclones, earthquake and tsunami, and on Santa Maria and Vanua Lava the threat of volcanic eruption remains. Of these, the meteorological events cause more frequent disruption and the historic record, albeit patchy, provides information about tropical cyclones and response than it does about drought. While droughts have probably dis- rupted food supplies with similar frequency to tropical cyclones, the latter are by virtue of their rapid onset, spectacular nature and widespread physical damage more likely to be noted by foreign observers. This study focuses on responses to two tropical cyclones which occurred almost one hundred years apart, in 1873 and 1972. Three other severe tropical cyclones have also affected Mota Lava since the 1873 event: in 1910,'1939 and 1988. Additional severe events have seriously affected other Banks Islands while the group has 406 internauonal Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters been visited by numerous events of lesser impact over the same period. Tropical cyclones in the Pacific give rise to disasters for three major reasons. First, they pose a direct threat to human safety by causing stormy conditions at sea, river flooding on larger islands, landslides, and least importantly, flying debris on land. Second, the strong winds often destroy housing. Third, they cause considerable damage to both subsistence and commercial crops through a combination of high wind, heavy rain (floodingand waterlogging of soils) and salt spray. The impact on agriculture is perhaps the most significant because of the potential effect on food security of Pacific Island communities. TRADITIONAL CONTEXT: SOCIETY AND NATURE IN THE BANKS ISLANDS When the Melanesian Mission began its work in the Banks Islands in the mid-nineteenth century, it broke 1,500 years of relative isolation during which the group developed as a distinct "area of cultural and economic interaction" (Ward 1979, 12.7). According to George Sarawia, one of the first Banks Islanders converted to Christianity in the mid-nineteenth century: Until now we had known of the existence of only six islands [outside the Banks group], Maewo, Aoba, Marina, Vava (Torres),Vanikoro and Tikopia. These were the furthermost islands in the world, and there were no more. (Sarawia n.d., p. 13) Indeed there was considerable economic exchange among Banks Island communities based on a complex set of political and social interrelations including marriage, the circulation of shell money, the trade of subsistence food production and the suqe (Vienne 1979). The suqe was a form of graded society and was a major component of inter-island relations. Participants increased their rank within the suqe by making substantial payments of shell money, mats and pigs to senior members. Membership ofthe suqe was a central feature of traditional life for males; and the aquisi- tion of the means of payment an important underlying factor in stimulating trade and integrating the Banks Island's economic system. The system of exchange was accompanied by sets of obli- Campbell: Disasters and Development In Historical Context gations established through loans and assistance given to men seeking to improve their position in the suqe. The exchange between islands often reflected specialisation which enabled each area to maximise its ecological advantages and offset its deficiencies through trade. Each island was known for its speciality, but the key to almost all forms of exchange was the highly valued shell money, which was fabricated mostly on Rowa and to a lesser extent on Mota Lava. Vanua Lava was noted as a source of food, particularly taro (Colocasiaesculenta), while Mota Lava and Mota produced yams (Dioscorea spp.). On Mota Lava, yams were cultivated in a long fallow system of agriculture. In essence, following a lengthy fallow period of eight to twelve years or more, the secondary regrowth was cleared and the yams cultivated. After the yams were harvested a wide variety of cultivars, including bananas (Musa spp.), taro and notomag (Dioscoreaesculenta),were planted for a further one or two seasons before allowing the land to return to fallow. In addition, a wide variety of tree crops including breadfruit (Artocarpw altilsor), coconut (Cocos nucifera), numerous nuts and other fruits such as the Tahitian chestnut (Inocarpus fagiferas) were utilised for food. Tree crops were commonly found scattered in the bush, in the villages and as borders to the gardens. It is difficult to establish what the population of Mota Lava was at the time of European contact. It was probably no less than 2,000 representing one of the more densely populated islands of the Banks group (Campbell 1985). TRADITIONAL DISASTER RESPONSE Food Security The thriving populations found in the Banks Islands by the early European travellers indicate that tropical cyclones had not rendered the islands uninhabitable. The communities of theBanhs Islands had developed a number of mechanisms to ensure food security was maintained in the aftermath of tropical cyclones. Among the most important of these were the use of resilient crops. agricultural diversity, the use of "famine foods," food storage and preservation, and inter-island exchange. A feature of the food system was the production of surpluses for use in inter-island International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters exchange and for storage, to offset seasonal variations in food supply and to ensure that there were supplies available in times of scarcity, such as those which followed tropical cyclones. Different species are affected in different ways by tropical cyclones according to the main agent of destruction (wind, water- loggingiflooding, salt spraylinundation) (Campbell and Chung 1986). The degree of damage sustained by plants also decreases at different rates with increasing distance away from the centre of tropical cyclones (Campbell 1984). By maintaining a diverse range of crops the likelihood that all species in any one location would be heavily damaged was reduced. The same principle applied at the regional level, to an even greater degree. Not only did different islands in the Banks Group vary in terms of their main staple, they were also sufficiently dispersed so that it was extremely unlikely that all islands would suffer equally. Prior to European contact and well into the twentieth century, the people on Mota Lava cultivated a wide array of food crops centred around the yam, in addition to exploiting a great range of forest species and varieties. Among the traditional Pacific island food crops the yam is among the most resilient to high winds (Campbell and Chung 1986).While severe damage may be done to the foliage and stems of the plant above ground, the root itself often remains unharmed or only partly damaged enabling it to be salvaged and stored. When crops failed, the forest assumed new importance. Follow- ing a prolonged drought on Vanua Lava: Were it not for the wild yams, in which the bush abounds, we should have been in a bad way for food. (01Ferral11906, p. 7) The tropical rainforest, with its considerable diversity of species, is highly resistant to cyclonic winds. Moreover, the forest also affords protection to those plants within it, especially at lower levels (Thaman and Clarke 1983). Not only were the wild tubers (such as the wild yam, Dioscorea nummularia) exploited. Nuts and leafy greens were also likely to be gathered with increased frequency following tropical cyclones. A very important famine food in Mota Lava was the sago palm (Metroxylon spp.). Because of the considerable effort necessary to Campbell: Disasters and Development In Hlstorlcai Context extract and prepare the starch it was not usually consumed other than in times of scarcity. In most Pacific communities a wide variety of techniques for storing and preservingfood were practised. There were three main types of food storage in Mota Lava (and generally throughout the Banks Islands). These included the storage of yams in specially constructed buildings which enabled the yams to last for considerable periods as long as they were kept cool and dry. Breadfruit and notomag were preserved by fermentation in two quite different processes which involved burial of the prepared food. Finally, breadfruit was dried and stored in a complex procedure, unique to the Banks Islands, which enabled them to be kept for periods as long as two years. Inter-island Exchange Because it was unlikely for destruction of crops to be complete throughout the Banks Islands, consumption of the products of Mota Lava alone was not the only disaster response. As indicated earlier, the islands of the Banks Group were bound together in a complex political, social and economic system based on the suqe and the use of shell money: ... it has hitherto been the custom of the people [of Mota Lava] in all times of scarcity to buy yams and taro in quantities from Mota and Vanua Lava, where there have hitherto been planted extra gardens for the purpose of bartering the produce for shell money. (Durrad 1912, p. 341) Traditionally men ofhigh rank maintained good relationships with their peers elsewhere on Mota Lava and throughout the Banks group. Even if the entire island were devastated, persons of high rank could request assistance and redistribute this within their own community (Source: informants on Mota Lava 1981). Codrington (1863, p. 8) reported such a system: It is the custom in the Banks Islands formen to have in other places single friends with whom they are connected by mutual good offices. Such a considers himself bound to provide food and lodging for his friend when hevisits him, and will assist him in any way he needs it; and in return expects the same good treatment when occasion offers. lnternatlonal Journal of Mass Emsrgencles and Disasters

The use of extra-island resouroes was very significant and the production of surpluses which were exchanged for shell money, pigs and mats enabled the economic exchanges in the Banks islands to be maintained. In addition to importing what may be termed "relief' supplies, consumption of resources from other islands also involved relocating communities or parts of communities to areas of relative plenty. This was the case on Mota in 1873: There were four schools [for Christian teaching] in the island in 1872. One of these ceased to exist after the hurricane; the school house with all the others in the village having been blown down .... Another was still carried on, though with diminished numbers, and sometimes in Mota and sometimes in a neighbouring islet, as the party migrated for the sake of food (Melanesian Mission 1874,p. 17).

CHANGING CONTEXT: DEMOGRAPHIC, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND AGRICULTURAL CHANGE The process of contact, colonialism and independence was one in which the Banks Islands were incorporated into the global economic and political system. The changes which took place involved a radical alteration of society-natureinterrelationships in the Banks Islands. Among the most important of these were population decline, the introductionof a new religion, participation in the market economy and associated changes in resource management.

Population Decline The early period of European contact with the Banks Islands saw the widespread introduction of diseases to which the population had little resistance. This, in combination with the labour trade (from which roughly 75%) caused a serious decline in the populations of Melanesian countries in the second half of the nineteenth century. By the turn of the century the population of Mota Lava had fallen to 1015. The decline continued into the mid-twentieth century when the population reached its nadir, according to "official" sources, of 465 (McArthur and Yaxley 1968, p. 17). After mid-centurythe population recovered and grew stead- ily to 1979 when 1175 persons were enumerated on the island (Vanuatu,National Planning and Statistics Ofice 1983). The most Campbell: Disasters and Developmenl In Hislorlcal Context 41 1 recent census of Vanuatu reveals little further growth in the population which numbered 1190 in 1989 (Vanuatu, National Planning and Statistics Office 1989) suggesting high levels of outmigration during the 1980s. The loss of population in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had almost immediate impacts on societal response to disaster. It also laid the necessary conditions for changingpatterns of resource use which further undermined the ability of the island to support its growing population in the 1970s and 19808, especially in times of environmental stress. Christianity and the Cash Economy While thc population was declining other changes were also taking place. As the new external trade began to grow, the old forms of inter-island exchange were beginning to come under attack. While Codrington, in 1891, wrote of the use of shell money in trade between Rowa and Mota Lava (Codrington 1891, p. 298), he also observed that beads had begun to supersede shell money for small transactions (Codrington 1891, p. 327). Furthermore, as the missions expanded their activities, the suqe was gradually undermined and other institutions (such as marriage) were modified. The demand for shell money fell away, thereby reducing in turn the extent of traditional inter-island trade within the Banks group and thus reducing the incentive for surplus production: [Shell] money is no longer needed in the quantities in which it was once supplied, and the people are not anxious to labour at additional gardens for a return for which they do not care as they did before. (Durrad 1912, p. 341). By the beginning of the twentienth century the suqe was no longer practised regularly on Mota Lava and had ceased, at least in its traditional format, by the end of the 1920s in most parts of the Banks Islands. In the twentieth century a number of trading enterprises were established in the Banks Islands, including Mota Lava, although many were short lived. Involvement in the cash economy on Mota Lava accelerated in the 1930s and 1940s with the establishment of a number of individual or kampani C'company") stores (Vienne 1979) and in the 1960s cooperative stores took an increasing role in servicing thc commcrciol nccds of thc island populntion. Thc old International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters linkages between islands in the Banks group have declined in the face of this growth in the cash economy. The individual islands now have stronger trading links with Vila and Luganville (the second urban centre in Vanuatu), than with each other.

Agricultural Change The increasing participation in the cash economy has largely been dependent upon the expansion of coconut plantations for the production of copra. As the demand for cash grew increasing amounts of fertile land were given to coconut cultivation. This was facilitated by the reduced demand for food production resulting from the population decline and the reduced need for the production of surpluses that were used in the traditional forms of exchange. The expansion of coconut planting not only created new land requirements: copra production also increased demands upon household labour. These two needs have been largely offset by the increased cultivation of cassava aManihotesculenta), an introduced crop with relatively low labour and soil requirements. Cassava is commonly cultivated after the initial crop ofyams for several years before the land is returned to fallow. The outcome is reduced fallow periods. In essence, the agricultural diversity of Mota Lava is being lost and replaced by a monocultural cash cropping system and a subsistence system based increasingly on cassava and to a lesser degree on yams. Pressure on island resources for the production of food supplies has resulted as the population has grown since the 1950s and land is being taken out of subsistence production and put under coconuts. This has led to further shortening of fallow periods, increasing use of cassava and reduced food yields. At the same time, copra production has failed to keep abreast of the demand for cash income, a situation which worsens when copra prices decline and inflation continues to boost the costs of imported goods, including food. In 1979 copra exports from Mota Lava earned the equivalent of $US60,900 but expenditure on imports exceeded double that amount ($US124,700). The following year, when copra prices plummeted, earnings fell to $US27,400 which was only a quarter of the amount spent on imports to the island ($US104,400) (Campbell 1985). Non-environmental incomes on the island, limited to a few government employees, offset some of this imbalance and income was received as remittances from Campbell: Disasters and Development In Hlstorlcal Context relatives employed elsewhere in Vanuatu. But in 1980, the deficit was also made possible by the factthat most families also went into debt to the cooperative stores. The growing ascendancy of the cassava and the coconut has serious implicationsfor disaster vulnerability. Compared with the yam, cassava with its long stem is highly prone to wind damage. Moreover, it is not as easily salvaged and stored. Coconut palms often survive tropical cyclones but, in comparison to ground crops which may be replanted immediately or restored the following season, the damage to coconut fronds is often so substantial that a return to normal production of nuts may be delayed for five years or longer. Under the changing agricultural conditions not only are food supplies likely to be severely restricted, the source of cash to offset losses will also be drastically reduced as a result of tropical cyclones. In this setting the demand for increased copra production to earn cash is growing, putting into motion a cycle of expansion of cash cropping and reducing subsistence yields and a heightening of vulnerability to damage from tropical cyclones. Whereas food security in traditional times was largely ensured through the production and manipulation of the use of surpluses, the island in contemporary times is characterised by deficits.

CHANGING DISASTER RESPONSE The response to the 1873 hurricane was for the most part a traditional one. However, the changes to Mota Lava and Banks Islands society had already ,begun to take hold. The interplay between tropical cyclones and the processes of depopulation was complex. The food scarcity followingtropical cyclones led to greater mortality from illness from introduced diseases. On Mota between 70 and 100 people were believed to have died in the months following the storm (MelanesianMission 1874,p. 17;Montgomery 1894, p. 9) and outbreaks were also recorded at Ra (Melanesian Mission 1874,p. 17) and on Santa Maria (Armstrong1900, p. 139). In addition, there was a loss of able-bodied members of the island populations to the labour trade. Of those who remained response was rendered difficult by disease. ... this scarcity ... prevailed [until] September [eight months after the tropical cyclone]. In the weakness consequent upon International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters

the sickness, as well as when the sickness was most preva- lent, the seasonal work of clearing ground and planting was postponed .... (Melanesian Mission 1874, p. 17) It was perhaps in response to these critical conditions created by the tropical cyclone that the Melanesian Mission brought food relief from the Solomon Islands to the affected areas (Armstrong 1900, p. 142). This is the first occasion in which non-traditional, externally generated, provision of relief was made in the Banks Islands. There is little documentary evidence about the response to the tropical cyclone of Christmas, 1910. While Speiser (1913, pp. 258- 259) provides a colourful description of the might of the storm on Vnnun T,nvn, little is known of its effects upon the Banks Islands and tlwir populutions. Ilowcvcr, oldcr informants on Mota Lava (in 1981) recalled the event and remembered that although they were children, this was the last time in which sago was used as a famine food. The 1939 cyclone is notable for a number of factors. For the first time, substantial relief was provided by the Condominium Govern- ment. which came into existence in 1906. Details are not verv clear but it appears that two shiploads of relief were received, one from the Condominium administration in Vila and the other from the Melanesian Mission now based in the Solomon Islands. According to informants on Mota Lava, this assistance included ten tonnes of rice and ten tonnes of dried corn. In addition, the relief included the provision of large quantities of planting material for relatively quick maturing crops, especially sweet potato and cassava. In the case of the latter, which was grown in only very small quantities on the island prior to this event, the provision of relief was a very significant influence in changing agricultural practices. People on Mota Lava who experienced this event stated that a number of traditional responses did occur, with some people going to the Torres islands to the northwest, the western side of Vanua Lava and Santa Maria, where they obtained yams and coconuts. When assessments were made of the damage caused by Cyclone Wendy, which struck on February 2,1972, it was considered that Mota Lava, together with Mota and Ureparapara, were the worst affected islands (British Newsletter 22 February 1972). Of 309 houses on the island, some 290 (94%)were destroyed. Destruction Campbell: Disasters and Development in Historical Context 41 5 of the sources of livelihood was equally severe. Damage to the gardens, where the yams were reachingmaturity, was widespread and many fruit trees were destroyed. In addition, copra production was almost wiped out. Consequently, while the five cooperative stores on the island exported 266 tonnes of copra (valued at $US27,840 for the local producers) in 1971, only 25 tonnes (that produced in January and from the windfall) were produced in 1972 and in 1973 production fell to four tonnes. It was not until April 1974 that copra production resumed and it did not become steady until the following year. The impact on the island economy was severe. In 1971 four of the five cooperatives on the island, for which records were available, had combined consumer sales equivalent to $US39,440. In 1972 the sales from the four cooperatives totalled only $US3,160. The massive decline reflects the fact that the stores were closed for some time after the storm, and that relief supplies partly offset the need for purchases. Mostly, however, the reduction was a reflection of the decline in spending power on the island. In 1973 consumer spending at the cooperatives totalled $US15,500 despite income from copra amounting to no more than $US870. The population had become dependent upon a few government jobs and remittances for cash income. A number of people produced handicrafts for sale through the cooperatives while others collected shells. Nevertheless, incomes from these sources were universally low. The option for a large number of people was to leave the island and seek employment elsewhere, particularly Vila and Luganville. A relief programme, consisting of a variety of items, adminis- tered by the Condominium Government quickly followed the event. Twenty-five tonnes of rice were made available by the government in addition to sugar and tea (Source: informants on Mota Lava). The government assisted in the rehabilitation by supplying quick maturing planting materials, especially sweet potatoes and cassava. In addition, government relief included roofing iron which was distributed to individuals who lost their homes. A wide range of household items including clothing, blankets, saucepans, cutl- ery, axes, and other tools were made available by a variety of church and non-governmental relief organisations. Cyclone Anne caused serious devastation in the Torres Islands, to the northeasl of the Banks Islands, and Ureparapara in the Banks group on 10 and 11 January, 1988. Other islands in the International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters

Banks group, including Mota Lava, also suffered damage, particularly to food gardens and to coconut plantations (Vanuatu Weekly January 19 1988). Food relief was made available to the affected islands. It was the first major relief operation in the Banks group since Vanuatu achieved independence. The relief operation received considerable assistance from the international communitv and within days helicopters and aircraft, made available by foreign countrias, werc operatingin the Banks andTorres Islands, provid- ingemergency necds and facilitating the conduct of a post-disaster survey. In the first few weeks after the event pledges of international assistance totalled approximately $US800,000 (Vanuatu Weekly,various issues January/February 1988) and food relief was supplied for several months.

DISCUSSION

Normality and Dieaster By studying responses to a number of disasters through time in the Banks Islands the role of "normality" takes on a different perspective than might have been the case otherwise. While there can be little doubt that environmental extremes may have dis- rupted traditional communities,and caused severe hardship, they were an accepted part of the environment and responses to them were rooted in, and largely indistinguishable from, their context of ongoing social and resource management activities. The "carry- over principle" (Quarantelli 1977)would appear to clearly apply to traditional disaster response. But in referring to this principle it should not be assumed that the "normal" activities which make up disaster pre-conditions develop independent of disaster. From the historical perspective disaster pre-conditions may be seen as the "post-conditions" of the previous disaster, as influenced by any changes independent of disaster that might have taken place in the intervening period. Given that the outcome of the previous event was to some extent reliant on the outcome of the disaster before it, disaster pre-conditions may be seen as being more or less influencedby a number of previous disasters that have taken place. It is perhaps not surprising then, that traditional disaster response, having developed over a lengthyperiod ofrelative isolation, was rooted in normalcy. Campbell: Disasters and Development In Historical Context

Since the mid-nineteenth century the nature of change in the periods between disasters has been radically altered by the influence of external agents. The population declined (and later grew again), a new religion was adopted, the cash economy took hold beside the subsistence economy, new crops were adopted, agricultural practices changed, and a new political order was established. The thrust of this change in "inter-disaster conditions" has been of a type that is independent of disaster and accordingly the pre-conditions for each event were significantly different from that of its predecessors in some way (see Figure 2). As a result, disaster pre-conditions were established for each successive event that heightened the vulnerability ofBanks Island communities through

Figure 2. Changing components of disaster pre-conditions in the Banks Islands.

t-- POPULATION 1 INTERISLAND EXCHANGE

AGRICULTURE

crw resi1,ence Crw diversity Famine fmdr

Food staqe

SURPLUS PRODUCTKIN

DEFICIT PRODUCTION

0UTMIGRATK)NI REMITTANCES

EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters

But change independent of disaster was not the only type of change. There was also an alteration in the way communitiescould respond to disaster. In particular, food relief was supplied from 1939 onward. The initial provision of relief could hardly have been anticipated by the people of the Banks Islands and from the local perspective could not be considered as a pre-condition.However, the outcome of that event, the6'post-disasterconditions," may have included the expectation of relief as a response to future events. Moreover, it may have also includedthe loss of knowledgeof certain coping measures, such as sago preparation, as well as the loss of an incentive for the continuance of a high level of inter-island exchange. While further social, economic, political and resource manaeement chanee. inde~endentof disaster. took lace in the thirt&hree years &at passed before the next tr~pical'c~clone,the post-disaster conditions of the 1939 event were distinctly different from those of previous events. The 1939 disaster may have indeed had a significant effect upon the state of normality in the Banks Islands and thus the pre-conditions for following disasters. It may still be argued however, that this is consistent with the carry-over principle in that the event did little more than to accelerate ongoing trends. But, if reliefwere not provided, what then would have been the outcome? It may well have been that the trends were rejected or modified and systems of resource management that took greater account of environmental variability may have emerged. This case study of the response to disaster in the Banks Islands has provided a useful vehicle for examining the role of changing disaster pre-conditions on disaster response. It would appear that the carry-over principle holds true in most disaster events. How- ever, in communities undergoing extremely rapid change from many quarters (ofwhich disaster impact is but one), discontinuities may occur during disasters that facilitate the processes of change, not only in relation to response to future disaster events but also in the rejection of previously held notions of on-going social rou- tines and the adoption of new ones. Such disasters do not simply hasten exist,ingtrends: rather they may provide the catalyst for change that otherwise may not occurr. Historical analysis of disasters in a given community lends itself to an exploration of the role of 'hormality" in the disaster process. This is a reflection of the small proportion of historical time that can be attributed to disaster conditions as opposed to Campbell: Disasters and Development In Hlstorlcal Context normality. Historical studies tend to highlight connections between differences in separate disaster events and changes in the state of normalitv through time. In commrison to most studies which are based on singleevents, the lon*tudinal approach places disaster pre-conditions in a slightly different context, linking them to disaster events. Thus, while increasing vulnerability to disaster mav be linked to lone-term social and economic chanees which result from influences tgtare largely independent of di&- ter, events during disasters may- be critical in enabling such long- term changes to take place. External Assistance Just as the temporal scale of analysis is important in detecting the causes of disaster vulnerability in the Banks Islands, so to is the spatial scale of investigation. As noted in the introduction, one component of many definitions of disaster is that communities cannot cope without outside assistance. It would appear that, historically, the Banks Islands were in a position of low vulnerability. However, this is not necessarily the case with respect to single islands or even smaller communities. A traditional response was to use resources from other islands, but this response lay clearly within the control of local decision makers. The response was maintained through a complex range of activities in which trade and obligations ensured external resources would be available if needed. In the previous section it was argued that the provision of relief by external sources in 1939 was perhaps a watershed in the process of changing resource management on Mota Lava and in the Banks Islands. Certainly, the disaster pre-conditions in 1939 were unlikely to have predisposed the island population towards excessive hardship, at least in terms of food security, as a result of tropical cyclones. The population was numerically at its lowest point and there would have been low levels of population pressure on food resources. Moreover, many of the traditional responses remained. There can be little doubt that the relief was gratefully accepted but there is little to indicate that the relief effort was initiated by the island communities. The decision to provide the relief was made, on behalf of the people affected by the storm, by the Melanesian Mission and the Condominium government. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters

In thc two events that have happened since 1939 t:x r,ecd fur external Lssisiancchas become more real, in part as a c? .:sequence of the 1933 relief issue. In 1972 relief was provided la~.~c;yby thc Condominium govcrnmcnt which also coordinntcd th: effo;.l. By 1988, Vanuatu was well established as an indcpenr1c:nt ~ountry and thc !rnlicf was coordinntcd by thc national govcrnrncnt.. 'I'lic sources of rclicf were however, widespread. Donations in cash and kind were received from a number of national govcrnmcnts in addition to overseas voluntary organisations. Whereas the nexus of traditional roping systems was community-island-island po111,. it h:ls now hrromr communit.y--island-nation--interna- IIO~IIIIRIC,II.I)V~.~, IIu. 111<.11:: ~~'coI~II~~~I1111s sl~il'I(~~l r1.0111 LIIC community Lo d1sLii11I.CI(:cision tnu1~~1.sin 1110 nutional cupiti~land in capitals of foreign nations. Unlike the traditional systems of exchange, where potential recipient communities exerted control over response through the production and manipulation of surpluses and the maintenance of obligations with potential donors in an integrated and interdependent system, no such reciprocity exists in the current process. Thus, while contemporary responses to disaster and general development trends continue to encourage dependence on foreign food sources, there is less guarantee that such sources will be available when the next disaster occurs. If for some reason, relief was not available the response options left for the pcoplc of Mota Lava and the Banlrs Islands, would hr. limited, and severe hardship a prohablc outcome. Such a scenario is not out of the question. A welter of major disasters at the globai scale, or even within the Pacific region, could result in resources available for disaster assistance being thinly spread. Furthermore, predictions of global climatic change indicate that in addition to sea-level rise, Pacific island countries may become exposed to increased incidence of natural extremes such as tropical cyclones and drought (Association of South Pacific Environmental Institu- tions 1988). Mota Lava, the Banks Islands, numerous Pacific island communities and nations, and some of the world's most populous, poor and disaster-prone regions may suffer seriously from these effects. Donor countries themselves may have to cope with increased disaster incidence within their own borders. This may give rise to political difficulties relating to the provision or foreign disastrr assistance while communities suffer d~mcstical1.v. Si~nil:lrly,cnnt rihutions to voluntary organisnt,ionr .:!;t,h nn o\iv Campbell: Disasters and Development in Historical Context seas focus may be significantly reduced in countries where there are increasing numbers of public appeals resulting from local disasters. Rclicf assistance for all to dcal crrectivcly is unlikely to be witllout limit, and it is possihlc that the small, isolated Pacific island communitics arc thc oncs which may bc most easily over- looked. CONCLUSION Thc proccsscs by which small and isolated Pacific island mm- munities have been drawn into the global market cconomy j~ritl their social, economicand resource managcment systems modified, have significantly reduced their ability to independently cope with disaster. Analysis of traditional systems of disaster management and historical changes to thcm enables us to understand how this situation has ariscn. Thc solutions to this problem of externallsa- tion of disaster response decision-making and loss of local control are however, not clear. Baker's question in commenting on Torry's (1979) review of anthropological studies in hazardous environments is still pcrtincnt: Is it feasible to imagine that traditional a4iustments mean very much whcn the pace of change has accelerated so quickly? (Baker 1979, p. 531) It may wcll bc that many traditional rcsponscs arc now impracti- cable. However, thc contcmporary response of increasing dependency seems to be equally unsatisfactory. There is a need for the reappraisal of small, outer island resource management practices in the Pacific region, with particular focus on agricultural systems and the pattcrns of economic linkages among island communities and between them and the wider national and international community. For outer islands in particular, present patterns of resource use and participation in the cash economy seem ultimately unsustainable and the growth of dependency in the face of disaster may simply bc seen as a symptom of this proccss.

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