Pacific Beat

The Anuu-ru Aboro documentary film festival organiser Thai Dumas says they are looking for Pasifika films.

On the program: Australia's Defence Department says it's "regrettable" that a RAAF plane, that flew to cyclone aid to Vanuatu, was unable to land because a charter flight from China was on the tarmac, and we hear how Samoans living around the world, including in Australia, are turning to online sites to buy essential items for their families back home.

Vanuatu had its national election on the cusp of the coronavirus pandemic really becoming a global crisis, the small island nation of Kiribati is now part way through its national poll, so what will happen to this year's planned election in Bougainville? A decision on that is likely to be made today in a special parliamentary sitting.

On the program: Vanuatu disaster authorities address concerns about Australian-donated relief items sitting in the capital Port Vila, saying they need to be quarantined and PNG's first local COVID-19 patient tells the ABC she has been "overwhelmed" by the discrimination she and her family have faced.

Vanuatu disaster authorities have addressed concerns about why Australian-donated relief items are still sitting in the capital Port Vila after arriving on Monday. They say the goods need to be quarantined given the global coronavirus pandemic and will be sent to the areas worst-affected by Cyclone Harold very soon. But local fresh vegetables from Vanuatu farmers are now on their way.

Guam officials say that while there has been a slowdown in the rate of COVID-19 infections, it would be "irresponsible" to think they are "out of the woods". Meanwhile, the World Bank has approved $US 20 million for PNG's COVID-19 response.

On the program:

After the Tonga's Women's and Children's Crisis Centre was put out of action by Cyclone Harold, the Director, Ofa Guttenbeil-Likiliki, talks about the impact and the contingency plans that are in place.

There are concerns that help isn't getting to the more than 150,000 people affected by last week's monster Cyclone Harold. An Australian air force plane was unable to land in Vanuatu on Sunday because of scheduling conflicts on the tarmac.

Faced with the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders, governments and organisations around the Pacific are embracing online tools to share information. But there are fears a reliance on these technologies could be deepening a digital divide that separates rural villages from big cities.

On the program: At least two people died in Vanuatu in this week's monster cyclone while Australia has offered assistance to several Pacific nations as they begin to assess the damage caused by Cyclone Harold and an international operation is underway across the Pacific to bring home hundreds of observers who are still at sea on board fishing vessels amid the coronavirus pandemic.