Climate Vulnerability Across the Pacific

Tropical cyclones represent one of the most immediate hazards facing Pacific Island nations, whose small land areas and limited built infrastructure leave little buffer against high-intensity storms. Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu on 13 March 2015 as a Category 5 system, affecting an estimated 70 percent of the country's population and prompting the government to declare a state of emergency; the World Risk Report has repeatedly ranked Vanuatu as the country facing the highest overall disaster risk in the world, a status driven largely by its combination of cyclone, volcanic, and seismic exposure with limited adaptive capacity. Cyclone Winston, which struck Fiji on 20 February 2016 with sustained winds of around 285 kilometers per hour, is recognized as the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded to make landfall in the Southern Hemisphere, killing 44 people and causing damage equivalent to roughly 20 percent of Fiji's gross domestic product.