In March 2015, after Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu, a long queue stretched from an aid post into the dirt road at Fresh Wind Ohlem, outside Port Vila, at times obstructing traffic. A field report by the United Nations Population Fund recorded people waiting for essentials including food and water. The line reflected more than scarcity: it was also the order through which limited relief could be distributed from a shared point. In an island country, damage to roads, ports and communications can make the sequence of receiving aid as important as the goods themselves. This is evidence from the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, not a claim that the same queue exists today.