article_snippet: How to help Vanuatu residents .
article_snippet: The main objective now is to get disaster response teams into Vanuatu and kick-start the humanitarian operation, Sune Gudnitz, regional head for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told CNN from Fiji, about 600 miles away.
article_snippet: Vanuatu President Baldwin Lonsdale, who was at a U.N. conference on disaster risk reduction in Japan on Saturday, issued an appeal to the global community to help Gudnitz shattered nation.
article_snippet: Vanuatu has officially declared a state of emergency, opening the door for other countries to help.
article_snippet: Vanuatu's remote location adds to the challenges the international response faces.
article_snippet: Many of the people are subsistence farmers, said CNN's Bill Weir, who visited Vanuatu recently.