Six years of disasters cost Fiji $6.5bn

Fiji has suffered approximately $6.5 billion in damages from disasters over the past six years — equivalent to 65–70 per cent of the nation’s current gross domestic product (GDP).

Fiji Business Disaster Resilience Council (FBDRC) coordinator Priscilla Ram said the figure includes the impact of Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016, two flash floods that same year, and Tropical Cyclone Sarai in 2019.

“If we add the impact of TC Winston and the two flash floods in 2016 and TC Sarai in 2019, it would be approximately $6.5 billion in costs,” Ms Ram told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence yesterday.

“That is about 65 to 70 per cent of our current GDP, wiped out in six years due to multiple crises.”

TC Winston alone caused an estimated $351 million in lost personal income and numerous lost workdays.

The figures were presented in support of the proposed Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF), a new Pacific-owned grant fund aimed at helping communities and businesses prepare for and recover from disasters.

Unlike most current disaster funding, which comes as loans that businesses must repay, the PRF would provide grants that do not need to be repaid.

Ms Ram urged Parliament to ratify the PRF, arguing that timely, accessible funding would help businesses recover faster and protect jobs across Fiji.

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