They may be half a world away, but the devastation wrought by Cyclone Pam weighs heavy on the hearts of a West Hartford pastor and his family.
Their son, Brad Jones, has worked as a missionary in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu for the past six years. He was there when fierce winds ravaged communities, killing at least two dozen and forcing tens of thousands from their homes.
“He said when he went outside, it looked like a nuclear bomb had dropped, that houses were gone, trees were down,” described his father, Pastor Gary Jones, of the Farmington Avenue Baptist Church in West Hartford. “I could only talk with him for a few minutes because of electrical problems.”
The younger Jones, who grew up in Connecticut, hunkered down in the nation’s hard-hit capital of Port Vila. He and his family are safe, but unable to make the 150-mile return trip to the hut where they live.
“They are very primitive. The people still have witch doctors in the tribes,” Gary Jones explained. “The one side is where people live, the other side is agriculture, because there are a lot of tsunamis that come through there.”
Though he takes comfort in the knowledge his loved ones are alive, Gary Jones said he’s eager for the reassurance of another phone call from his son.
“They call them cyclones over there, but this would be akin to a Category 5 hurricane here in the States, which is quite vicious,” he said.
Local
The storm damaged or destroyed 90 percent of the building in the nation's capital, according to Vanuatu President Baldwin Lonsdale, who said Cyclone Pam is forcing his country to start over.
