Government is serious about preparing, protecting and assisting Fijians before and after a natural disaster strikes.

That commitment has led to 24 Government officials taking part in a three-day pilot course on “Working in an Emergency Operation Centre (EOC)”.

The training is organised and fully funded by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) and involves officials in the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) during disasters.

Acting Permanent Secretary for Rural and Maritime Development and National Disaster Management, Loata Vakacegu, said the course was timely with recent disasters not only in Fiji but the Pacific.

“The Government of Fiji takes its responsibility seriously – that is to be prepared, protect and assist people with their livelihoods,” Ms Vakacegu said.

“Therefore, this training builds the capacity of our officials to effectively respond and to ensure full recovery from disasters.”

The course was conducted at the Ministry of Rural and Maritime Development and National Disaster Management headquarters in Suva and will also be offered to other National Disaster Management Offices (NDMO’s) across the Pacific soon.  This is the plan of the Pacific Community (SPC) who is assisting Fiji’s NDMO in the training.

The modules in the course were also jointly developed between Fiji’s NDMO and the SPC officials taking into account feedback from NDMOs and other stakeholders across the Pacific.

The participants include officials from the NDMO, military, Police, health, correctional services, transport and infrastructure, navy, iTaukei Affairs, women and social services.

In addition to the classroom activities, participants also participated in a simulation exercise in National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) on the final day of the course to demonstrate skills learnt.

This training course integrates the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) modules offered by the SPC as part of the Disaster Reduction Programme (DRP) and was recently reviewed with the support of the Australian Government.

Manager of DRP, Paul Taylor, said the Pacific Community appreciated and was proud of this training partnership initiative by the Government and with support from the Australian government.

“To help up-skill officials working in disaster management also helps communities become more resilient to the impact of climate change and disasters in Fiji and the Pacific,” Mr Taylor said.

Source: Pacific Community

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