THE Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has lost years of development progress and must “start anew” after the devastation of Cyclone Pam, according to the country’s president, who blamed climate change for the disaster.

The cyclone damaged 90% of the buildings in the capital of Port Vila. Eight people were known to have been killed but the death toll is expected to be much higher once links to the outlying islands are restored.

President Baldwin Lonsdale, visibly weary and red-eyed from lack of sleep, said that he and other top government officials were preparing to return home from Sendai, in north-eastern Japan, where they were attending a disaster conference.

Australia, which along with New Zealand and France is providing rescue and relief help, offered transport from Sydney to Port Vila, his staff said.

Lonsdale said the airport in Port Vila has reopened, allowing aid and relief flights to reach the country. Port Vila is on the country’s main island of Efate.

“This is a very devastating cyclone in Vanuatu. I term it as a monster, a monster. It’s a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu. After all the development that has taken place, all this development has been wiped out.

“So it means we will have to start anew again,” Lonsdale said.

He appealed for humanitarian aid for the homeland he called “paradise on Earth.”

“Tarpaulins, water containers, medical needs, gathering tools, construction tools, all these are very important right now,” Lonsdale said.

He also said cyclones the nation had suffered were linked directly to the changing climate.

“We see the level of sea rise … The cyclone seasons, the warm, the rain, all this is affected ,” he said. “This year we have more than in any year … Climate change is contributing to this.”

Aerial surveillance showed some communities flattened, the head of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society, Hannington Alatoa, said. Lonsdale said 1,000 people in Port Vila alone have been evacuated, while aid personnel from Australia, France, and New Zealand have arrived to assess the damage. Lonsdale said early warning systems and preparations in advance of the storm kept casualties to a minimum.

The leaders from Vanuatu found a receptive audience in Sendai, where the United Nations is working to craft a new framework for disaster risk reduction.

Talks on an agreement have proved more difficult than expected, those involved say, because of issues largely related to financing and responsibility-sharing between developing and wealthy nations.

Japan convened the conference in Sendai to highlight progress in recovery and reconstruction following the massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster that struck its north-eastern coast in March 2011, killing more than 18,500 people.

But Lonsdale said the timing of the storm, which has put Vanuatu’s plight in the spotlight, was a “wonder”.

“It is a miracle that we are here during this conference,” he said. “This conference is about disaster risk reduction. What is happening in Vanuatu is the reality. The reality of what is happening right now.”

Although communications have been partially restored in Vanuatu, Lonsdale and other officials said they had not yet been able to contact their own families.

“We do not know if our families are safe or not,” he said. “As the leader of the nation, my whole heart is for the people, the nation.” Officials in Vanuatu said they had still not made contact with outlying islands and were struggling to determine the scale of devastation from the cyclone.

Paolo Malatu, coordinator for Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office, said officials had sent every plane and helicopter they could to fly over the hard-hit outer islands.

“The damage to homes and infrastructure is severe,” Malatu said. “The priority at the moment is to get people water, food and shelter.”

He said bridges were down outside Port Vila making travel by vehicle impossible even on Efate.

Those left homeless were generally staying with relatives whose houses had withstood the storm, or were sleeping in temporary shelters provided by aid agencies, said Unicef spokeswoman Alice Clements.

Access to food and water is an urgent concern, said Ms Clements, who is in Port Vila. Much of the city’s water supply has been tainted.