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Vanuatu’s radio signals restored after Cyclone Pam

The South Pacific island nation Vanuatu’s broadcast communications have been fully restored after they were knocked out by Cyclone Pam earlier in March.

According to Francis Herman, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) program manager for the Pacific Media Assistance Scheme, transmission engineers and local technicians have fixed Radio Vanuatu’s short and medium wave service to a level better than before the cyclone.

Herman said they were waiting for a Royal New Zealand Airforce aircraft to bring in a new transmitter from Auckland which they were planning to install over the weekend. He added that they found that some stations have been off air since November last year and are also preparing a report for the Vanuatu government with their recommendations.

They are likely to propose a system that is directly linked to the disaster management office and can withstand the ferocity of such cyclones in the future.