Plucky teen keen to stay and help

SAFE: Courtney (left) with her sister Eden before she left for Vanuatu in February. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

A brave Tauranga teenager has spoken out about dodging falling trees and running from house to house as roofs were torn off while Cyclone Pam ripped through the village in Vanuatu where she is living.

Today her mother will join her in Vanuatu where they will help rebuild the lives of the Vanuatu people, only a day after reconnecting their own family.

Kerri Tilby-Price screamed with excitement when she heard her daughter's voice yesterday for the first time since Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu, where the teenager is living.

Courtney Tilby, 18, has been volunteering as a teacher in the small village of Namaram on Pentecost Island, north of Port Vila, since early February as part of a six-month trip.

Miss Tilby was able to make the first contact with her family yesterday since the storm hit, finding phone reception near her village.

"She said, 'Hey, Mum, sorry I've just got reception. What's going on?'

"I just went 'AHHHHHH', and she said, 'Are you okay'?"

Mrs Tilby-Price said her daughter was evacuated from three houses during the cyclone, after the roof was torn off each one.

A man had yelled, "Run. Stop. Run. Stop," as they ran down a bank and avoided falling trees, Miss Tilby told her mother.

The village's crops were destroyed and their water tank was split in half so the village had been without water since the storm.

Mrs Tilby-Price understood an Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade helicopter had flown to Pentecost and Ambrym Islands on Thursday to collect volunteers and take them to the larger island of Espiritu Santo where resources and communication were better.

Her daughter could not be picked up because of the nature of the terrain of Namaram but she was seen with another volunteer waving and smiling from the ground, Mrs Tilby-Price was told on Thursday night.

"They dropped off a note out of the helicopter telling the girls where they needed to hike to to get picked up." Mrs Tilby-Price said she could not sleep on Thursday night because she was so excited to hear her daughter was alive and well and would be phoning home soon.

Before the girls made it to the meeting point, Miss Tilby's phone found reception and she was able to phone home.

Mrs Tilby-Price was updating the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend on her daughter's situation when the call came through.

"Oh my gosh, Courtney's calling! Courtney's calling!" she screamed, before hanging up.

Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend after catching up with her daughter, Mrs Tilby-Price was overwhelmed with relief and said they laughed the whole time.

However, she said her daughter was shocked to hear of the devastation facing the surrounding islands and relieved to hear her fellow volunteers were okay.

The volunteers would be given the option to come home but there was no question in Miss Tilby's mind that she would stay and help, excited to hear her mother would be flying in today to assist with the rebuild on other islands.

Mrs Tilby-Price would fly into Port Vila and partner up with an organisation she could offer the most help to, while also organising a containerload of donated goods to be shipped from New Zealand.

Helpful donations included tarpaulins, light blankets or picnic blankets, milk powder and water purifying tablets, Mrs Tilby-Price said. Details of where to drop donations will be published in the Bay of Plenty Times when a location is set.