Vanuatu's Council of Ministers has declared a state of emergency on Ambae due to the island's volcano spewing so much ash the island is becoming uninhabitable.

It is planning another mass evacuation.

Reports from the island say houses and trees are collapsing due to the weight of the ash while many locals have suffered a raft of health issues.

There has been increased activity from the Manaro Voui crater on Mt Lombenben for the past month, although the mountain remained active since last September's major eruption.

Photo: RNZ Pacific

The director general of Vanuatu's Ministry of Climate Change and Natural Disaster, Jesse Benjamin, said people would be evacuated in a more orderly fashion compared to last time, with those from severely affected parts moved first.

"For the state of emergency of Ambae it's actually because of the heavy ashfall on all parts of Ambae," Mr Benjamin said.

"And it is so thick that you know that their vegetation is affected, their water has been contaminated and people are struggling to get food from the garden because there's been heavy ashfall on most every part of Ambae," he said.

Around 11,000 people returned to the island after last year's mandatory evacuation which was done amid fears there would be a bigger eruption.

How the evacuation will be undertaken is now being discussed by a taskforce.

It is likely to involve people being moved to the nearby islands of Maewo and Pentecost.</s>Villagers on the Vanuatu island of Ambae were facing their second evacuation in seven months Friday after a volcano rumbled back to life and rained ash on their homes.

Authorities in the Pacific nation have declared a state of emergency on the northern island, where 11,000 people were forced to leave last September.

Many have only just returned home but the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department said the Manaro Voui volcano was undergoing a level three eruption, the mid-point in a five-level scale.

National disaster ministry director general Jesse Benjamin said any evacuation would be more orderly than the one carried out in September, when a flotilla of small vessels were pressed into service to rush people off the island.

"Last year's evacuation was conducted in haste, amidst fears of a major eruption," he told the Daily Post newspaper.

"There is some dissatisfaction about the way we moved people at the time. This time we will be evacuating people from the severely affected communities first, before the less affected.

"The government is worried about the safety of the people."

Vanuatu, which has a population of about 280,000 spread over 65 inhabited islands, is regarded as one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world.

It sits on the so-called "Pacific Rim of Fire" making it vulnerable to strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, while powerful cyclones also regularly lash the islands.</s>A state of emergency has been declared for Vanuatu's Ambae Island as a volcano continues to spill thick heavy ash.

Thousands of residents who call the island home have been warned they may need to evacuate after up to 1cm of ash has fallen in some areas north of the island on Tuesday night.

The situation was described as 'becoming critical in some areas' and national EMT coordinator Dr Basil Leodoro told Vanuatu Daily Post they had 'received reports of houses collapsing due to the weight of the ash.'

Medical assistance teams arrived on the island on Thursday to 'provide medical support...sanitation, surveillance and public health services support to the people of Ambae,' Dr Leodoro said.

'I am confirming that heavy ash fall has caused skin and eye irritations, and exacerbated breathing conditions like asthma,' continued Dr Leodoro.

'We are also working very closely with our disease surveillance teams to monitor reported cases of Mumps, acute gastroenteritis and dengue in all Ambae residents but particularly those at evacuation centres,' he said.</s>Espiritu Santo: Yango Wilson’s mother is of Chinese descent, his father a native of Vanuatu. Growing up, the 25-year-old cattle station manager was treated like anyone else.

But in recent years, there has been a large and swift influx of Beijing money, investment and short-term workers into Vanuatu, provoking widespread anti-Chinese resentment.

"The newer Chinese and the older ones mostly stay separate," he said.

Yet for the long-term, multigenerational Chinese communities of Vanuatu, attitudes towards them have been hardening.

The Lo family, a third-generation family of Chinese descent on the northern island of Espiritu Santo, turns out to have many of the same concerns about the new Chinese as the native people the Ni-Vanuatu.</s>Sydney, April 10, 2018 (AFP) - - Australia and New Zealand said Tuesday they were closely monitoring developments while downplaying a report that China wants to establish a permanent military base on the Pacific nation of Vanuatu.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Beijing had approached Port Vila about the possibility, potentially upsetting the delicate strategic balance in the region.

China has been aggressively growing its military and pushing its footprint deeper into the Pacific, forging closer links by showering nations with development money.

The Herald, citing multiple sources, said Beijing's military ambition in Vanuatu would likely be realised incrementally, possibly beginning with an access agreement allowing Chinese naval ships to dock routinely for refuelling.

This arrangement could then be built on, it added, with intelligence and security figures in Australia, New Zealand and the United States becoming increasingly worried about China's growing influence.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who travelled to Vanuatu last weekend with Britain's Prince Charles, said she was confident of Canberra's strong relationship with Port Vila.

"I'm not aware of a military offer being made by China to Vanuatu," she said, noting that the Vanuatu government had said to the newspaper it was not aware of such proposal.

While China has been investing in infrastructure around the world, to date it has only established one military base -- in Djibouti in northern Africa.

"We have very good relations with Vanuatu and I remain confident that Australia is Vanuatu's strategic partner of choice," Bishop added.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she had read the Herald report and "I can't comment on the validity of that".

"But what I can say is that we of course keep a watching eye on activity within the Pacific and that New Zealand is opposed to the militarisation of the Pacific generally."

Australia's Lowy Institute estimates China provided US$1.78 billion in aid, including concessional loans, to Pacific nations between 2006-16.

Earlier this year, Beijing lodged a formal diplomatic protest after a senior Australian minister called Chinese infrastructure projects in the region "white elephants".

During the spat, Australia's International Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells said the Pacific was "full of these useless buildings which nobody maintains", built by China.

She also warned that unlike loans from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, Chinese financing had less than favourable terms.

"We don't know what the consequences are when (Pacific nations) have to pay back some of these Chinese loans," she said.

Beijing responded that it "fully respects the will of the Pacific islands' governments and their people" and that development aid "has brought real benefits to local people".

China has diplomatic relationships with eight Pacific island nations -- the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu.

Six other Pacific countries recognise self-ruled Taiwan, which China sees as part of its territory.</s>Port Vila: Vanuatu’s Prime Minister has vowed to “fiercely oppose" any push to build a foreign military base on the Pacific island nation, while also defending his government's close ties to "friend and global leader" China.

In his first major statement since Fairfax Media revealed China's ambitions to establish a permanent military presence in the South Pacific, Charlot Salwai also maintained that a Beijing-funded and constructed wharf capable of accepting warships was entirely Vanuatu’s idea and aimed at helping its people.

“The government will fiercely oppose any attempt to build a military base in the country that is the happiest place in the world and which is a direct affront of its policy to promote peace and security in the region,” Mr Salwai said in a statement.

Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday China was eyeing a permanent military presence in Vanuatu and had made initial approaches to the country. Beijing has been showering Vanuatu, which has a population of about 270,000, with hundreds of millions of dollars in development money over recent years.

Top national security figures in Canberra and Washington are deeply concerned about China’s ambitions for Vanuatu and its overtures to the small nation.</s>Vanuatu’s Opposition Leader has questioned the country’s closeness to China and demanded more scrutiny of what Beijing is “getting out of” the infrastructure loans and donations it is making to the Pacific nation.

Ishmael Kalsakau told Fairfax Media that while he didn’t know what was in Beijing’s mind, it would make strategic sense for the superpower to establish a permanent military presence in Vanuatu - as Fairfax Media reported this week China wants to do.

Mr Kalsakau, who heads the Union of Moderate Parties, said no Vanuatu government “in their right mind” would support a Chinese base.

But he said he feared China was pursuing its strategic interests by showering Vanuatu with largesse and deepening its influence in the country.

“The way this government’s been dealing with offers of Chinese generosity raises quite a few eyebrows because of the reluctance of the government, as I see it, to look at the big picture,” he said.</s>SYDNEY: The United States has conducted a survey of a Chinese-funded wharf in Vanuatu ahead of a military exercise by U.S. forces planned for the South Pacific later this year, the U.S. Marine Corps said on Saturday.

The wharf had been the subject of reports in Australia's Fairfax Media that China wanted to establish a permanent military base in the Pacific island nation.

Both Vanuatu and China denied the report amid heightened tension with the United States over China's activity in the South China Sea.

U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Curtis L. Hill told Reuters by email that a small contingent of Marines from 1 Marine Expeditionary Force based in California had conducted a site survey in preparation for the exercise that U.S. forces will hold.

"The site survey was conducted due to the likely participation of a Military Sealift Command support vessel in the exercise," he said.

Vanuatu, about 2,000 km (1,200 miles) east of northern Australia, was home to a key U.S. Navy base during World War Two that helped beat back the Japanese army as it advanced through the Pacific toward Australia.

There is heightened interest in the wharf in Luganville town because it could be big enough to allow warships to dock at it. Its primary use is to cater for cargo vessels and ferries.</s>People wait to load portable water-purification units and supplies at a Red Cross aid center after Cyclone Pam in Port Vila, capital city of Vanuatu, March 19, 2015. Thomson Reuters
• China reportedly discussed setting up a military presence in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.
• Both countries denied the report, and a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called it "fake news."
• The US and its partners are eyeing China's moves in the region warily.

China and Vanuatu discussed establishing a Chinese military presence in the Pacific island nation, The Sydney Morning Herald reports, citing several sources. Australian defense officials said Beijing asked Vanuatu to host a port or allow port visits by naval vessels, according to Nine News.

Vanuatu adamantly denied the reports, but a potential Chinese military presence in that area of the South Pacific has long been a source of concern for Australia, the US, and their partners in the region, who are eyeing China's expansion warily.

No formal proposals have been made by the Chinese government, according to The Herald, citing sources saying any Chinese military presence in Vanuatu would likely develop incrementally, possibly starting with a deal allowing routine visits by Chinese naval ships.

"No one in the Vanuatu government has ever talked about a Chinese military base in Vanuatu of any sort," Vanuatu Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "We are a nonaligned country. We are not interested in militarization. We are just not interested in any sort of military base in our country."

China's Defense Ministry said Fairfax Media's report "completely did not accord with the facts," and a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman referred to the report as "fake news."

An outpost in Vanuatu could put China's military near trade routes in the South Pacific. Google Maps/Christopher Woody

Vanuatu is made up of more than 80 islands between Fiji and New Caledonia, located about 1,200 miles from Australia's northeast coast, and it hosted a strategically located US Navy base during World War II.

"The most troubling implication for Australian interests is that a future naval or air base in Vanuatu would give China a foothold for operations to coerce Australia, outflank the US and its base on US territory at Guam, and collect intelligence in a regional security crisis," Rory Medcalf, head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, said in a Lowy Institute report.

"We would view with great concern the establishment of any foreign military bases in those Pacific Island countries and neighbors of ours," Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. Australia's opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman called such a military presence a potential "game changer for the region and for Australia."

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was in Vanuatu with Prince Charles over the weekend — a diplomatic visit meant to underscore the importance of the commonwealth countries' emphasis on a free and open international system, according to Fairfax Media.

Bishop said she was unaware of any Chinese military designs on Vanuatu. She noted China was more active in the region, citing Chinese naval visits to Vanuatu in 2017, "but these sorts of visits are normal," she told Australian media.

Britain's Prince Charles with Chief Sine Mao Tirsupe during a visit to the chief's nakamal in Vanuatu, April 7, 2018. Steve Parsons/Pool via Reuters

"It is a fact that China is engaging in infrastructure investment activities around the world," Bishop told Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I remain confident that Australia is Vanuatu's strategic partner of choice."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she could not comment on the validity of the report, but told AFP that "we of course keep a watching eye on activity within the Pacific and that New Zealand is opposed to the militarization of the Pacific generally."

Beijing has already agreed to hundreds of millions of dollars in development funds to the island nation, which is home to about 270,000 people.

China has also agreed to fund a new wharf on the northern island of Espiritu Santo, close to an international airport that Beijing is also helping overhaul.

The wharf deal "raised eyebrows in defense, intelligence, and diplomatic circles" in Australia because while the facility is ostensibly for docking cruise ships, it could also host naval vessels, Johnathan Pryke, a Pacific Islands expert at the Lowy Institute, told The Herald, which reported that senior members of China's army want to quickly set up a base in Vanuatu.

China has also agreed to build a new official residence for Vanuatu's prime minister, a new Finance Ministry building, and an extension for the country's Foreign Ministry. It ahs already funded Vanuatu's parliamentary building, a 1,000-seat convention center, and a major stadium and is finishing work on a school that will reportedly be the biggest education facility in the South Pacific.

Beijing committed more than $1.7 billion in aid to 218 projects in the Pacific between 2006 and 2016, according to the Lowy Institute.

Local residents outside damaged homes surrounded by debris after Cyclone Pam hit Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu, March 15, 2015. REUTERS/Kris Paras

China "is beginning to shift this long-standing regional dynamic in ways that are raising concern in Canberra and in other regional capitals," Bates Gill, an Asia-Pacific expert at Sydney's Macquarie University, told the BBC.

China has expanded its presence in the Pacific and Indian oceans, building military facilities on a number of reefs and manmade islands in the South China Sea. Beijing has made expansive claims over the sea, which have been backed by Vanuatu.

The US and Australia have compared China's overtures in the South Pacific to its moves in the Indian Ocean, where Beijing agreed to develop port facilities and other infrastructure in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, the Maldives, and other countries — all of which is of particular concern for India.

A Chinese military base in Djibouti, which features a port, aircraft hangers, and accommodations for up to 10,000 troops, was Beijing's first overseas military outpost (though Beijing refers to it a logistics facility.)

Chinese deals in the India Ocean region follow a trend that has been called "debt-trap diplomacy," in which Beijing funds projects in a poorer country and uses that leverage for get more advantageous relations or more access.

Earlier this year, US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer referred to such deals as "weaponizing capital." China holds almost half of Vanuatu's $440 million in foreign debt, according to The Morning Herald.</s>It's not easy making history at the Commonwealth Games -- and it doesn't get any less complicated if you're looking after a baby at the same time, as Vanuatu beach volleyball player Miller Pata has found.

While most athletes have ice baths and massages after games, it's more likely to be nappy changes and baby feeds for Pata, who nevertheless won bronze with her team-mate Linline Matauatu on Thursday.

Pata hoisted seven-month-old Tommy in the air and placed her medal around his neck after the win over Cyprus which handed Vanuatu, a remote Pacific archipelago, its first ever Commonwealth Games medal.

The team-mates haven't had it easy: they have had to organise their own accommodation, babysitting, meals and physiotherapy, after being told Pata couldn't stay with her baby at the athletes' village.

It remains an unusual situation in elite sport, but it could become more common as an increasing number of women return to competition after childbirth, including tennis world number one Serena Williams.

Pata was back in training just two months after having Tommy, and she said one of the biggest challenges was eating properly to maintain her energy.

"(My energy levels) were different but I managed my food and everything, so I could get back on to my normal routine," the 29-year-old told AFP.

Pata isn't the only new mum at the Commonwealth Games: two-time Olympic shot put champion Valerie Adams had her first baby in October, and Australian race-walker Claire Tallent has an 11-month-old son.

Vanuatu coach Shanon Zunker said Pata had been "short-changed" by being refused permission to stay in the village, which has physiotherapy and massage services and all dietary needs catered for.

"Given the stage that they are on, I think it would be nice if they had access to all those things," Zunker said.

"When Tommy has (visited) the village grounds, (athletes) are pretty excited to meet him... so I think I few extra smiles around the place would not have gone astray," he added.

Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive David Grevemberg said children were allowed to visit the village and that there were facilities for baby-feeding.

"It's certainly something we'll continue to look at as far as making sure we have the right policies, but right now I think we have a fairly robust approach," he told AFP.

"We haven't had any complaints and we've made provisions to allow the baby access to allow the mother to engage with the child on our day-pass system."

Vanuatu is hardly known for its sporting prowess, but Pata and Matauatu have been rising up the beach volleyball ranks for some time.

They announced themselves as a credible force in 2015, with a win over world number one Brazil at a world tour event in the United States, and only narrowly failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.

Both athletes also have daughters under 10 and their families share the caring duties as they juggle the demands of travel and training.

Sociologist Adele Pavlidis from Griffith University said motherhood in sport was becoming more and more prevalent.

"The visibility of women that have recently had children in sport has been quite low, and that is changing," she told AFP.

"They are saying 'just because a woman can give birth it doesn't mean she is any more fragile or weak than anyone else."

For the Vanuatu pair, family and sport are their lives.

"(Our daughters) get excited (watching us play), and they look forward to replacing us," Matauatu laughed.

"The next generation!" said Pata.
Vanuatu plans another evacuation from Ambae Island due to volcanic activity from Manaro Voui.