The president of Vanuatu appealed for international assistance on Saturday after his island nation was hit by a terrifying tropical cyclone in what may be one of the region's worst weather disasters.
"I stand to appeal on behalf of the government and people of Vanuatu to the global community to give a lending hand in responding to these very current calamities that have struck us," Baldwin Lonsdale said during a speech at a UN conference in Sendai, Japan.