Wanted: Volunteers to help Vanuatu

Dave Eddy hopes to take a group of volunteers over to Vanuatu next month for two weeks to help with the rebuild after Cyclone Pam. Photo / George Novak

A Tauranga man heading to cyclone-stricken Vanuatu is looking for volunteers to help rebuild the battered island nation.

Project manager Dave Eddy said he was setting up a charity, New Zealand Vanuatu Rebuild or NZVR, and was heading to the island nation on April 12 for two weeks.

Mr Eddy said the charity was being put together to help provide emergency shelter for people in desperate need after Cyclone Pam hit the country almost two weeks ago.

"We want to offer our skills and knowledge of the building industry to the people of Vanuatu, and help them help themselves with the intention of future proofing for cyclones," he said.

Mr Eddy, who has been in the construction industry for 13 years as an architectural designer and construction and project manager, was hired as a site manager for the clean up efforts surrounding the Rena grounding in 2011.

"When the Rena hit, I gathered a group of volunteers to clean around Mount Maunganui. Coast Care New Zealand recognised my efforts and I was hired as a site manager.

"I took a team of volunteers to Matakana Island, where we worked along side the New Zealand Air Force and local Iwi.

"After it was clean, I was sent to Maketu to do the same with the locals and volunteers."

Mr Eddy said he had already planned a mid-winter island getaway to Samoa but had changed his plans when Cyclone Pam hit the Pacific.

Mr Eddy said he had spent six months in Indonesia and had seen what an impact a small effort could have on a developing nation. "You know they don't have a lot and if they lose it, that's their life but it doesn't take much to get them back to where they were."

Mr Eddy was using his contacts to identify areas most in need.

More volunteers, especially building professionals and sponsors, were needed for the trip, he said.

"Anybody who is fit and healthy really, it will be high risk by the time we are going, it will be six weeks after the cyclone hit - diseases start forming two months after the disaster."

At this stage, each of volunteers for Vanuatu were funding themselves but Mr Eddy was hoping to gather enough sponsorship to get the team, food and water, materials and tools there.

He is aiming to raise $10,000 with 100 per cent of funds going directly to the rebuilding project.