Vanuatu president: 'Monster' cyclone damaged, destroyed 90 percent of capital's buildings

Cyclone Pam caused major destruction on the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, President Baldwin Lonsdale said Monday, destroying or damaging 90 percent of the buildings in the capital of Port Vila.

Calling the cyclone a "monster," Lonsdale told Al Jazeera that "it's a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu." Lonsdale is in Japan, where he attended a disaster conference before the cyclone hit Vanuatu; he said because of a "breakdown of communications," he did not have information from other islands outside of Port Vila. Al Jazeera reporter Andrew Thomas said that aid agencies haven't been able to land on those outlying islands yet, but have flown over them, and from the air they appear to be destroyed.

While some flights have landed at the Port Vila airport with much-needed supplies, workers say that because of the lack of communication, it will be impossible to distribute the items across the 80 islands in the archipelago.

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